ON THE IDEA OF LABOR, LABOR LAW, AND FORCED LABOR SELECTED REMARKS IN THE SOVIET UNION (1917-1945)

In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, work was compulsory according to the 1918 labor code. This stemmed from the ideas of Marx. This position was also held by Lenin, Trotsky and others. The Communist Party could assign anyone any work. Evading work was a counter-revolutionary crime. Likewise, it was a crime to arbitrarily change one’s place of work. The compulsion to work required the use of terror. Terror was an everyday phenomenon in the USSR. Low labor productivity was a constant affliction. Prison labor was used en masse from the beginning. The GULAG system (forced labor camps) expanded. Prison labor was becoming less and less productive. In 1956, the GULAG camps were renamed “penal colonies,” which still exist in Russia today.

Reform to Abolish: A Pragmatic Analysis of Prison Labor & Strip Searches in Quebec Correctional Law

In the past year, abolitionist themes have been at the forefront of mobilizations such as #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and #FreeThemAll. This paper relies on socio-legal feminist methodology and proposes a pragmatic abolitionist analysis of correctional law, the Loi sur le système correctionnel du Québec (LSCQ). I emphasize two issues reflective of ongoing structural harms within women’s jails – prison labor and strip searches – and argue that both practices instill everyday bodily harms due to their framing in the LSCQ. Although prison labor is presented as favoring social reinsertion, per the LSCQ incarcerated women receive inadequate wages relative to the cost of living in prison thus limiting their access to menstrual products and potentially leading to dangerous alternatives. As for strip searches, they are presented as means to ensure the safety of the institution yet are experienced as unsafe and as state-inflicted sexual assault. Per the LSCQ, strip searches can be conducted in a range of circumstances leaving much to correctional officers’ discretion, thus allowing for discriminatory rule enforcement and exposing incarcerated women of color to further violence. I conclude by presenting short-term abolitionist reforms which could reduce these everyday bodily harms. I also call for increased solidarity with incarcerated people within social mobilizing and organizing.

“We’re Silent Heroes”: Inmate Firefighters’ Experiences with Dignity and Shame in a Prison Labor Program

Adults in custody (AICs) in a prison labor program experience conflicting messages and feelings of shame and dignity. Despite the program’s mission to help ease reentry, experiences of shame and shaming from correctional officers (COs) and the community may be setting AICs up for an increased likelihood of reoffending upon release. Using the concepts of shame and dignity, 21 program interviewee narratives were explored for their insights. Program improvements and recommendations for interventions with correctional officers, AICs, and the community are offered.

Prison Labor in a Pandemic

Facing the spread of coronavirus, the rapidly rising demand for hand sanitizer led to a short supply. In New York, Governor Cuomo's solution was to contract the Division of Correctional Industries. The profiting off of forced labor on the backs of incarcerated men and women is explained further in this policy brief.