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This would be the right thing to do – if it wasn’t being done in the wrong place. In Georgia right now, corrections officials are pushing laws that would allow private industries to build factories on prison grounds so that inmates can work in them. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the inmates would earn wages to help pay the cost of room and board, as well as court-ordered victim restitution and child support. On top of that, they would get to keep at least 20 percent of their earnings. Such a program, called the federal Prison Enhancement Program, is already in place in 39 states, according to the Journal-Constitution. Supporters say that the program helps prisoners learn skills and work ethics, and it gives them the chance to save money to start over once they are released. I don’t doubt that prisoners learn skills from the program. I also don’t have a problem with prisoners earning money as they pay their debt to society – and keeping a little for themselves. All of that seems fair. What isn’t fair, however, is that fact that now, businesses and governments are finding ways to get cheap work out of a number of black people while they are on the inside without feeling obligated to deal with the joblessness that besets them – or their communities - once they are on the outside. That troubles me. [more]