Cut Costs and Put
Inmates to Work

Nice concept! But a technical flaw is that picking vegetables is skilled work. The necessary dexterity isn't achieved in the span of a typical jail sentence. Also, workers are often paid by the number of units picked (trays, baskets, etc). Or has that changed?

USA has 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. Something's not working!

Us having to wait till now to finally hear the Arpaio suggestion is a good example of Americans' intense aversion to obvious and simple solutions. (Or did I miss it earlier?)

Here's a similar suggestion: SB county could hire a consultant from the People's Republic of China. Well, s/he'd have lots of practical ideas from which to sort! After building the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal 14 centuries ago, the Chinese should have good tips on low-tech dredging of our silted-up reservoirs. Couldn't we use more water storage capacity? Gung-ho!

Skilled work? That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. Do they have trade schools for vegetable picking? How long of a jail sentence is required to teach: - bend down, pick up the strawberry, put it in the basket, repeat.

I think it's a great idea - but so is the idea of new jails - how about both? Put the prisoners to work, use the income to build new jails. Also, how about deporting the 12 percent that are illegal immigrants immediately?

No work, rob a 7-11, go to to jail, get work, doesn't pay, masters of men, slaves in confinement.

Unbelieveable Ashaw , we found something to agree on .

Do I see a pattern here?
A few decades ago we were told that the Bracero Program was a good thing, so limited numbers of legal Mexican immigrants were brought in to do the work that apparently Americans won't do. (Translation, they provide cheap labor and tend not to demand safe and fair work conditions) After that, businesses figured out that they can get around obeying labor laws by hiring people who are in the country illegally so the huge "pull" factor began. We were fed the line that "our economy depends on them". (By the way, is their proof that those businesses hiring them actually passing their saving onto us?)

Now that the scam of hiring and exploiting cheap immigrant labor hasn't helped our economy (and possibly making it worse) now we are talking about hiring prisoners.

How long before THIS idea catches and our anti-freedom government decides to find more ways to put people in jail to feed the insatiable lust of business interests?

Interesting point Bill.
Yes, as long as we insist on looking the other way regarding illegal immigration, it is the illegal immigrants who will suffer most by being fair target for exploitation. If they aren't legal, why would it be illegal to exploit them? Take predatory lending for just one example. It's modern day slavery.

All of you "tolerant" illegal immigration appeasers are not doing the illegal immigrants any favors - they will never achieve the American dream when the business interests are more interested in keeping them ignorant and enslaved, with no opportunities to improve themselves, unless they are put through the system created for LEGAL immigration, which requires a certain standard of them.

It works very good here in Arizona.