By Jerry Metcalf
Recently I read an article by Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press, titled: State Slices Prisoner Pay After Finding 11-Year Error.
Mr. Egan painted a pretty good picture of how the MDOC has been treating us incarcerated individuals as slaves by paying us pennies per hour for the last three decades. And, having been imprisoned by the State for over 26 years, I’d have to agree. I’m one of those dog trainers he mentioned. I begin my day at 6 am by taking my dog out for it’s first potty break, and I end my day by taking the dog out at 8:30 pm for it’s last potty break. In between, I train my Paws With A Cause dog on a constant basis by taking it with me everywhere I go inside the prison, teaching it different lessons along the way, so that one day it’ll make a trusting, loving, and obedient service dog for some young autistic child in need.
I work 14.5 hours a day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year, and I get zero days off. None. Not even holidays. And I do all this for $1.54 a day. That works out to about 10.6 cents an hour.
Slavery indeed.
And although I am white, I feel obligated to point out how the majority of people incarcerated in the Great State of Michigan are black. I remember reading somewhere way back in my public middle school days of how the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery on January 1, 1863 with his Emancipation Proclamation. If this is true, then how come slavery still exists right here in our state under the guise of “corrections?” Is Lincoln not the Great Emancipator we were led to believe? It seems to me that black slavery never ended, it just pivoted. Now to enslave someone in America, black, white, or whomever, all the government needs to do is attach a felony conviction to them.
Thank god our cops and prosecutors are all honest, hardworking people who’d never frame an innocent man, or shoot a young, hoodie-wearing black kid in the back for carrying a toy gun, or murder a man by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes, otherwise we’d be in big trouble socially and morally with this whole slavery thing.
Okay, enough complaining on my part. My hero Nelson Mandela once said something to the effect of a person should never complain about a problem unless he or she is willing to suggest a solution for said problem, so here’s mine:
In his article, Mr. Egan cites State Rep. Bradly Slagh as stating that we prisoners “receive free room and board” and therefore shouldn’t be entitled to anything other than slave wages. LOL–I find plenty wrong with this statement, starting with the fact that is exactly something a deep-south plantation owner would’ve said two hundred years ago, and ending with the fact that I didn’t ask to be imprisoned, so of course I shouldn’t be paying room and board. Hell, if you don’t want to pay my room and board, let me go and I’ll gladly go find a job to feed and house myself!
Okay, I know that’s not going to happen, but I’m willing to concede that it’s about time we incarcerated individuals start paying room and board under certain circumstances. And seeing as how most of us were imprisoned while still real young (I was 20), we’ll be able to learn how to be responsible, bill-paying adults instead of leaving prison decades later with zero knowledge of how to take care of ourselves financially.
I propose that the State pay us prisoners whatever the minimum wage is for Michigan. Of this money earned, one third will revert back to the State for rent, food, clothing, and healthcare. One third will go to us. And one third will go into a savings account for the day we’re released, unless we have children, then that money could be sent home to take care of our families.
I see this method as a plus all the way around. The state may have to pay more money up front, but in the long run it will save money by cutting the recidivism rate. When men leave prison with an understanding of how working a real job that earns a real wage works, they will better appreciate the benefits of avoiding crime and seeking out a job. Imagine if you had slaved away for twenty or thirty years, earning pennies an hour, you’d then be programmed (institutionalized) into thinking that working an honest job does NOT pay off. So when the choice to steal, or sell heroin or crack or meth, or prostitute oneself presents itself, many of those formally incarcerated individuals turn to the “easy” money as opposed to the “slave” wages they know so well.
Also, when a man or women is released with zero dollars in their pocket, life is an almost insurmountable uphill battle. Sure, many people do climb out, but usually on the backs of their loved ones. They live with their parents, or siblings, or children; they eat their food, and wear their clothing; they use their car or are driven to work by them; they use their bank accounts and credit cards; and they use their phones and computers. Shifting this financial burden to our families and communities is not only unfair, but, following the line of logic that says our prison’s are mostly populated by blacks, then this financial burden is also systemically racist. What would our Great Emancipator have to say about this, I wonder?
My name is Jerry Metcalf, and I wish to make the world a better place. If you do too, please join me on social media.
Jerry Metcalf
Facebook.com/Jerryametcalf.jr or JerryMetcalfArtist
wattpad.com/JAMetcalfjr
Twitter @JerryMetcalfJr1
Instagram.com/jerryametcalf_ar
email: J.Metcalfauthor@yahoo.
email Jerry directly: Jpay.com/JerryMetcalf251141
Artpal.com/JerryMetcalf
Redbubble.com/JerryMetcalf