China Alleged To Use Prisoners In Lucrative Internet Gaming 313
SoyQueSoy pointed out an article that reveals it's not all fun, but forced games for some Chinese prisoners. It is alleged that after a day of hard labor some inmates are forced to work through the night as gold farmers. "Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," [prisoner] Liu told the Guardian. "There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off."
US employs 80,000 prisoners for labor (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/may2000/pris-m08.shtml
"There are presently 80,000 inmates in the US employed in commercial activity, some earning as little as 21 cents an hour."
"In addition, during the last 20 years more than 30 states have passed laws permitting the use of convict labor by commercial enterprises. These programs now exist in 36 states."
"Prisoners who refuse to work under these conditions are labeled “uncooperative” and risk losing time off for “good behavior,” as well as privileges such as library access and recreation."
Re:Seriously (Score:5, Informative)
Just clicking away seems like a breeze compared to that.
Lets see what the article says...
"If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things,"
Yea, sounds super easy.
Re:A variant of this happens in Nevada (Score:4, Informative)
Re:A variant of this happens in Nevada (Score:2, Informative)
You missed several key points in your friend's story. There are progressive slot machines where the jackpot keeps going up based on the amount of play. If the jackpot has not been hit in a long time it is possible that the jackpot amount is enough that the odds of hitting the jackpot are in the players favor. It it costs you $1 to play and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 100, then as soon as the jackpot goes over $100 the odds of you hitting the jackpot before you spend more than the jackpot are in your favor. When there is an entire bank of slot machines hooked up to a single progressive jackpot and the jackpot is in the players favor, professional slot players will form a team and play the entire bank of slot machines. Usually there is a banker who finances the players. The players usually get an hourly wage and a bonus if they hit the jackpot with the rest of the money going to the person who bankrolls the operation.
Re:Seriously (Score:4, Informative)
You must be living in a different universe to the rest of us, because in this one there's a massive - and massively profitable - slave labour industry in US prisons.
Re:US employs 80,000 prisoners for labor (Score:2, Informative)
Inmates cost society a lot of money, why not make them earn their living like the rest of us?
Because that is slavery.