Just one week ago, Sheriff Steve Prator of Caddo Parrish, told the media and all other onlookers how he really felt, when it came down to the final decision for the state's new prison release program. Fervently, Prator believes that the good inmates should NOT be released, on account of all the free labor they provide.

I know what you're thinking. Or, at least, we know what we're thinking and can imagine that your thought process is not far behind.

First off, whose mans is this? And secondly, no, this is not a joke. Thirdly, yes, this man is serious and it's occurring in 2017. Did you see the passion wrinkles as he demanded they be kept to "wash cars" and "pick up trash"? Proof today that time is not the only factor of change. Here we are in a post-civil rights society, still clamoring for those same rights. Prisoners, some wrongfully accused, many reformed, being treated like they are not even human beings. This, what Prator describes, is modern day slavery. In fact, those were the almost exact words of the executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, Marjorie Esman:

"The purpose of the criminal justice system is to keep the community safe and to make sure that nobody is incarcerated any longer than necessary… It’s certainly not to provide free labor for law enforcement officials ― that is essentially slavery. It is obviously not only ludicrous but a gross violation of people’s rights.”

With Louisiana having one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, Prator even argued that this new release program was just the state's way of trying to look clean and save coin. He goes on to say that the state was merely "risking our safety for bragging rights and to save money.”

Or maybe, Prator, the state is progressive and it's time you took several seats with your outdated views on the value of black lives.

institutional discriminationLouisianaModern Day SlaveryPrison-reformSheriff