r/memes has an intelligent conversation about slavery.

Today's subject: Slavery.

Context: Three things here, mostly intended for the non-US audience.

• Firstly, for those who somehow don't know, wildfires have been getting out of control and burning down neighborhoods throughout the outer regions of Los Angeles, in the US state of California. See here for Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palisades_Fire_(2025)

• Secondly, (and more importantly), the California government has been using prison labor to fight the fires. This is known as the "California Conservation Camp Program" and has been active in fighting the Palisades Fire. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations, prisoners in "fire camp" make between $2 and $5 a day, with a rate of $1/hr when working in active emergencies. For reference, the US federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr.

• Thirdly (probably most important), although the 13th Amendment to the US did abolish slavery, it still allowed slavery in the context of punishment for a crime. This is not hyperbole: The literal amendment text for Section 1 is "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." This is pretty much why people are referring to this as slavery or referencing slavery when talking about this or prison labor in general. Using prison labor as a cost-cutting measure is nothing new in the US, and has been done pretty much since slavery was abolished, with the simple act of paying prisoners being a pretty relatively new concept when compared to the fact that slavery was abolished in 1865. It also doesn't help that most states require prisoners to work or they can face harsh penalties while imprisoned.

Further reading: If anybody is morbidly curious, one of the worst uses of this loophole that I learned about was "convict leasing," where states in the South leased (majority Black, former slave) convicts to companies who would not pay them, many of which were companies that used to employ slaves, effectively just giving them slaves again. Here's a good short article on the subject.

Anyway, enough of the boring shit, here's some drama:

Main post, a meme which mocks redditors for bringing up slavery connotations when talking about prisoners fighting this fire.

Drama from OP (less comments total but probably more spicy since OP seems very upset:

1)

Hmm, if only there was a way to keep oneself out of such a concrete box. Perhaps one could try NOT COMMITING CRIMES.

Written by a dude who lives in a nation that houses a quarter of the world's entire prison population.

2)

Three hots and a cot in a reasonably conditioned space is not all that bad, especially when you remember these are CRIMINALS we are talking about. Go to a Mexican prison, then come back and we can compare.

Plain and simple. You shouldn't talk if you haven't been in.

The primary issue with American prisons is the other inmates, not the amenities. If they were well adapted to society, they probably wouldn't be in prison to begin with.

Drama not from OP:

1)

It's a complex issue that can of course be boiled down to memes

How is voluntary work slavery? I don't agree with the wage or private prisons either but that doesn't make it slavery.

Coercion is a thing that exists y'know

2)

This is implying that the prisons are being paid an amount of money per prisoner volunteer that's not being passed onto the prisoner. The state isn't paying exorbitant sums to the prison to hire inmate volunteers. Do you think the state is just sending fat checks to prisons for their volunteer firefighter inmates? LMAO no.

No but if the state is saving money by hiring prisoners at $1.10/hr versus a fully trained firefighter at $25/hr, there is an incentive for the state to arrest more people to increase the numbers of its bargain fire brigade.

Sorry, but that's frankly dumb as fuck...

3)

Do you want a pedophile to fight fires?

Shut the fuck up. You've never worked with them like I have. They don't allow rapists or pedophiles or most violent offenders

4)

It's not just firefighters. Many companies across the nation include these "volunteer" workers. Even fast food.

Honestly, it's not even that convicts are doing jobs that bothers me, it's that the prisons make massive profits while the prisoners are barely making enough in a day for a single meal.

In all fairness, it's not like the convicts need to pay rent, water, power, or food. That's the tax payers responsibility, so the prison admins are making pure profit by double dipping.

Yes, the masters have to pay to house the slaves lmao...

SURPRISE BONUS ROUND: OOP gets frustrated, posts on r/TrueUnpopular Opinion:

"No, Inmates Volunteering For Jobs Is Not Slavery."

I'm not copying the whole thing but it contains a great flair which is "SLAVERY CAN NOT BE VOULNTARY."

Drama:

1)

prisioners should be forced to do slave labour [Probably bait]

2)

Slave wages = slavery paying a prison nickle compared to what you would pay a normal person is slavery.

Brother, I did hundreds of hours of free voluntary labor through Boy Scouts, and happily so. Was that slavery? Are the civilian volunteer fireman I mention in my post slaves? Are the medical staff that volunteer for The Red Cross slaves? [OP]

Coulda sworn you were allowed to leave the boy scouts but maybe I'm wrong

3)

hard labor and forced to work for free doing everything from mopping floors to laundry

Oh the humanity! "Hard labor" doing things that people would normally have to do in the place where they live!