Re: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude may be imposed as punishment for a crime.” 

Greetings, I came across your article in “Black and Pink” magazine. I hope everyone there is doing well, and I would like to thank you for the work you are doing on behalf of individuals in prison. 

I wrote in response to your article and I hope that you will not take anything in offense. This seems to be a very sensitive topic and I hope to be of some assistance in the change needed.

If you decide to reply, please be conscious of the fact that all mail is photocopied and subject to review. I hope to be able to provide some form of information that may be helpful, but may be limited due to staff retaliation. It is a real issue.

Please let me know how I may be able to help. 

Blessings to all                                         

Andrew V. 

The answers to the following questions are personal opinions and only personal opinions in response to the form provided by #EndTheException Inside Out Organizing Working Group. I would like to input my opinion as I have been incarcerated for almost 4 years and have another Lifetime to go. I would also like to point out that I am a white male who was raised in a predominantly white community. I knew nothing of the racial divides of this country until I was in my 20’s while serving in the Air Force. I was raised to never see color as a definition in life but that all were created equal. After the many years of living as an adult in this country, I have found it to express a disgusting sense of racial divide that makes me very sad. The prison system is a melting pot of racial divides that cause negative outcomes that continue to manifest themselves within our society. Who would like to eat a meal with his friends, who are “black”, I will be shamed and ridiculed for doing so. The fact that it may cause me serious harm by those of the “same color” as myself, is despicable and disgusting. The racial divide in this country continues to manifest and I pray for the day when I can sit and have a meal in peace with those who are of different complexion than myself. With that said, I would like to support any function that provides change to this terrible system in which the incarcerated are subjected to. 

Questions: 

1)    What work do you do and how do you feel about it?

-       I work as the Electronics Technician for the facility I am currently at. This means that I work on all the electronic systems, to include, televisions, camara system, security systems, all computer systems and functions. I am on call 24/7 for any issues that may arrise. The staff that supervise me are less qualified than myself and rely on my knowledge to keep everything online. This is concerning but also brings light to the fact that inmates are the ones that keep all prisons functioning. If all the inmates at this facility stopped working, the facility would cease to run. They would have to shut the place down as none of the staff know how to perform in their “job”. Instead they solely rely on the inmates to provide the services needed. I receive $8.57 a month to be on call 24/7 plus work a regular schedule of Monday - Friday 6:30am-2:30pm. The person who supervises me does nothing other than direct what “needs” to be done. When something goes wrong, he cannot fix it, instead forces me to fix the problem and then proceeds to take all credit. Of course, he needs to, otherwise they would find out that he knows nothing and would more than likely be fired for it. Gotta make him look good for $8.57 a month so that he can get his $4800.00 a month salary. :)  

2)    What would you want someone who hasn’t been incarcerated to know about prison slavery?

-       Slavery is a very strong term and should not be used lightly. I am not sure how to come close to relating to the atrocities of slavery as it is known, but I see a form of physical labor that would more than likely contribute to the philosophy of what slavery means. At this facility alone, we have a DMV department, and a CAD design and manufacturing department for furniture. The facility produces furniture as well as Computer Aided Design services for other agencies. All of this work is done by inmates who make a max of $112.00 a month. Someone in this field of work outside of the Department of Corrections Colorado, would gross $140,00.00 a year for the same job description. The inmates that provide CAD services have years of training in design and manufacturing. All of the products made and sold are a direct profit to the state and none of the workers see a penny of it. I would consider this a form of slavery as the same type of labor is so aggressively frowned upon in other countries. I believe China would be a good example. We also have inmates that work directly for the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles. These individuals field calls for 8 hours a day on behalf of the Department of Transportation for $17.00 a month. From my understanding, these inmates take calls of individuals renewing their plates, which are also made here at the facility, which is somewhat of a stressful job. The fact that the state of Colorado feels that they can just use us for things that need to be done for them, is somewhat degrading. Someone in this field makes $38,000.00 a year outside of prison. 

3)    When you read the Abolition Amendment, how does it make you feel?

-       I think it is long over due and should be enacted immediately. No one at the prison who is incarcerated wants to work for these crooked organizations. The prisons gross mass amounts of income on behalf of unpaid labor. I am not even sure how it is possible. It should be exposed and treated with abolishment as it super imposes slave labor as a means for the facilities to profit and fund themselves instead of funding programs to treat people for the reasons they are in prison. Instead of providing the care needed to inmates to “get better”. They just use us for their monopoly. If the prisons income is based on how many inmates can provide them with the man power to make it, then why help them leave? It does not benefit the prisons to help people change, it only helps them to enslave. By the way, if you do not hold a job within the prison, they will place you in LOP (take away your privileges) and also take your good time. They penalize you for not being apart of the slave labor.

4)    Do you want to be an active member of the campaign? If so what role do you want to play in the campaign and why?

-       I would very much like to be apart of the campaign to change this issue. I have so much more to say regarding the moral issue of enslaving inmates to provide cash for the people who are incharge. It is disgusting and needs to change immediately. I would be happy to help in any way I can through providing written testimony, educating the prison population, or anything that you can think of. I believe that it is wrong to force individuals (men and woman in their lowest days) to be subject to slave labor with enough pay to call their loved ones once every other week. (phone calls are $2.25 a call for 20min) The burden that one has to put on their family just to hear from them is horse s**. On top of the treatment that we receive for bing in prison we must work for nothing to provide cash to the people that put us in here.

5)    Do you or others in your facility listen to a regular prison radio show?

-       Really, they have those? I had no idea. We are not even allowed to receive photo from our families less they get photo-copied in black and white. We are censored here like nothing I have ever seen. [Facility redacted] Colorado photo copies all, and I mean ALL of our incoming mail. We never even get the original, regardless of it is a legally binding document. I can even dream of a radio show for inmates. 

If I cannot even order a book related to current events, I am not sure how we could have a radio station.