Wednesday, December 29, 2010

NAACP Reps Tour Prisons After Georgia Prison Strike

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

After the Georgia prison strike that took place earlier this month, the NAACP in Georgia took notice. Officials from the Georgia State NAACP have decided to address the issue head-on by touring one of the prisons in the state to determine the depth of concerns by the inmates. The inmates said that their strike was organized to ask for educational opportunities, adequate healthcare, just parole decisions, less expensive access to their families and an escape from cruel and unusual punishment. Most significantly, they are leading the public to question the 13th Amendment's slavery exemption, which allows corporations to earn profits with slave labor as long as the state finds a way to label someone to be a convict. Similar to slavery a century ago, a disproportionate number of those controlled by the system are black.
Georgia State NAACP President Edward DuBose said that there was evidence to support the complaints of some of the inmates:

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