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Monday, July 30, 2012

"Voluntary" Work Program Run in Private Detention Centers Pays Detained Immigrants $1 A Day

In the Stewart Detention Center in rural Lumpkin, Georgia, Pedro Guzman cleaned the communal areas, cooked, painted walls, ran paperwork and buffed floors. But Guzman was not brought into Stewart as an employee - he was a detained immigrant taking part in the detention center's "voluntary" work program.

"I didn't go more than a month without a job," said Guzman, who spent almost 20 months waiting, and working, inside Stewart while his immigration case was resolved.

In private prisons around the country, immigrants languishing in detention centers are being put to work by profit-making companies like the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) for far below the minimum wage. For doing a range of manual labor in the facility, the immigrants, many of whom are not legally permitted to work in the United States, are paid between $1-$3 a day.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doing the jobs Americans won't do.

Anonymous said...

But someone else is reaping the benefit of his illegal labor. What a bunch of hypocrites we are in this country. Don't want them here; but it costs too much to send them back; so hold them in detention centers for an indefinite period of time and exploit their labor for profit.

Anonymous said...

Prisoners should paint the Chesapeake Bay Bridge for $1.00 a day. No loss if someone falls off. Do you realize how much money would be saved? They say it cost more to paint the bridge than it did to build it !!

lmclain said...

Government condoned slavery. Pure and simple, done FOR PROFIT by CORPORATIONS ans stamped with approval by your leaders. But hey, they're just Mexicans. For now. Be disgusted. Be outraged. But more than anything, be afraid.

Anonymous said...

4:15 PM

I think YOU should paint the bridge. If you fall off, no loss.