Yes, they can be used as slave labor, which would save farmers from even having to pay them directly (though they would have to pay that prison industrial complex).
Depends on the state. Some states allow for forced prison labor. Most ‘only’ allow for ‘voluntary’ and underpaid prison labor. California, the largest state by population, still allows for forced prison labor.
Oh, you don’t have to be skilled for anything for certain agricultural tasks. Any idiot can take a hoe, walk a field, and chop out a weed. Rinse & repeat thousands of times over thousands of acres.
The only question is, can you trust that idiot with giving him a hoe that could also work halfway decent as a weapon?
Other possible non-skilled ag tasks could include picking fruit/vegetables, milking cows/goats, feeding animals, cleaning animal pens, working with bales…idk there’s just a lot of things they can do with very little skill or experience. Lots of menial tasks.
Walking beanfields & weeding would probably be simplest, and very beneficial to the farmer & the prisoner (exercise, fresh air, sunshine, no real threats from animals).
Other possible non-skilled ag tasks could include picking fruit/vegetables, milking cows/goats, feeding animals, cleaning animal pens, working with bales…idk there’s just a lot of things they can do with very little skill or experience. Lots of menial tasks.
For many crops, picking fruit, for example, is an immensely skill-oriented task in order to do it fast enough to be profitable.
Hence when they are “migrant” workers who keep making their way north all harvest season to keep harvesting the crops as they become ready. A lot of fruits have a narrow harvest window of just a few days, and you can’t wait around for a bunch of novices try to figure out how to harvest them.
I’ve done some fruit picking ((some)). I’m approaching it from the grossly underpaid prison labor perspective; it is easier to make it profitable when labor costs are low. We’re not giving these guys even $10/hr.
![[Real] Stop being poor, poors!](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bfd93689-e8f6-46f2-a9a8-2d34205e50fc.jpeg){kind=link}
They’ll just use prisoners at that point.
And if there’s a shortage, there will be an increase in arrests and convictions, justifiable or not.
Prisoners in the US are effectively slaves also I thought?
Yes, they can be used as slave labor, which would save farmers from even having to pay them directly (though they would have to pay that prison industrial complex).
Depends on the state. Some states allow for forced prison labor. Most ‘only’ allow for ‘voluntary’ and underpaid prison labor. California, the largest state by population, still allows for forced prison labor.
Prisoners are not skilled agricultural workers.
Oh, you don’t have to be skilled for anything for certain agricultural tasks. Any idiot can take a hoe, walk a field, and chop out a weed. Rinse & repeat thousands of times over thousands of acres.
The only question is, can you trust that idiot with giving him a hoe that could also work halfway decent as a weapon?
Other possible non-skilled ag tasks could include picking fruit/vegetables, milking cows/goats, feeding animals, cleaning animal pens, working with bales…idk there’s just a lot of things they can do with very little skill or experience. Lots of menial tasks.
Walking beanfields & weeding would probably be simplest, and very beneficial to the farmer & the prisoner (exercise, fresh air, sunshine, no real threats from animals).
For many crops, picking fruit, for example, is an immensely skill-oriented task in order to do it fast enough to be profitable.
Hence when they are “migrant” workers who keep making their way north all harvest season to keep harvesting the crops as they become ready. A lot of fruits have a narrow harvest window of just a few days, and you can’t wait around for a bunch of novices try to figure out how to harvest them.
I’ve done some fruit picking ((some)). I’m approaching it from the grossly underpaid prison labor perspective; it is easier to make it profitable when labor costs are low. We’re not giving these guys even $10/hr.
You are an idiot then, get hoeing. Do you know the difference between a weed and a crop plant? That’s a skill.
…do you even know what the definition of a weed is?