[Mmmm, POINT. You know, I can easily see this particular form of slavery being socially acceptable not just in the US but in most Western countries under the justification that people only get it because they've done something to deserve it. (I mean, look at the inequalities that otherwise decent people are willing to condone in the criminal justice system we already have!)]
And, really, I could see a lot of people arguing that this is a more humane system than the prison systems you see in, like, say, Russia*. After all, people in the CCCR program aren't just tossed in a cell and left to rot; they're given careful supervision (there are all sorts of requirements you have to be able to meet in order to lease convict labor) and actual real-life work experience, they're not totally cut off from society (theoretically, though in reality they often are), and they actually pay back their debt to society instead of just being warehoused off the streets. It would be interesting to play with having good people (possibly even people on the White Collar team) who basically believe that people exploit the system and that's wrong and needs to be fixed, but the system itself, as it's supposed to work, is basically fine. After all, if you commit a crime, you're going to give up some of the rights and privileges of being a full citizen in whatever justice system you look at, and this is basically just community service on steroids, right?
*Discovery: I don't know how to google for information on what country has a prison system most similar to the United States'. My first instincts on search strings just led me to a lot of pages on the US prison system.
CCCR!Neal gets a lot of narrative milage out of the fact that Peter doesn't really know what he's doing, here. For one thing, as such a staunch abolitionist, Peter has had very little contact with people in the system, and less with the actual business aspect of leasing convict labor. So he'll do things like forget, when he's transferring Neal from Myrvold's dormitories to June's place, that all of Neal's clothing is technically owned by Myrvold, and the only thing he has to wear is the orange Department of Corrections jumpsuit that's checked out specifically to him for the duration of his sentence. And Neal will just carefully not say anything, and watch it sink in. Because abolitionists can get kinda ivory-tower: They could debate policy, morality and constitutionality all day, and forget to factor in that newly-acquired convict labor might need things like clothing provided for them.
I have a feeling that so much of this, at least in the early parts, is Neal working all of the minimal angles he's given, and Peter stumbling around and occasionally stubbing his toes on things, trying to figure out how to make this work. And occasionally doing the absolute wrong thing, and often being far nicer than he has any obligation to be, in ways that Neal can't let himself entirely trust.
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And, really, I could see a lot of people arguing that this is a more humane system than the prison systems you see in, like, say, Russia*. After all, people in the CCCR program aren't just tossed in a cell and left to rot; they're given careful supervision (there are all sorts of requirements you have to be able to meet in order to lease convict labor) and actual real-life work experience, they're not totally cut off from society (theoretically, though in reality they often are), and they actually pay back their debt to society instead of just being warehoused off the streets. It would be interesting to play with having good people (possibly even people on the White Collar team) who basically believe that people exploit the system and that's wrong and needs to be fixed, but the system itself, as it's supposed to work, is basically fine. After all, if you commit a crime, you're going to give up some of the rights and privileges of being a full citizen in whatever justice system you look at, and this is basically just community service on steroids, right?
*Discovery: I don't know how to google for information on what country has a prison system most similar to the United States'. My first instincts on search strings just led me to a lot of pages on the US prison system.
CCCR!Neal gets a lot of narrative milage out of the fact that Peter doesn't really know what he's doing, here. For one thing, as such a staunch abolitionist, Peter has had very little contact with people in the system, and less with the actual business aspect of leasing convict labor. So he'll do things like forget, when he's transferring Neal from Myrvold's dormitories to June's place, that all of Neal's clothing is technically owned by Myrvold, and the only thing he has to wear is the orange Department of Corrections jumpsuit that's checked out specifically to him for the duration of his sentence. And Neal will just carefully not say anything, and watch it sink in. Because abolitionists can get kinda ivory-tower:
I have a feeling that so much of this, at least in the early parts, is Neal working all of the minimal angles he's given, and Peter stumbling around and occasionally stubbing his toes on things, trying to figure out how to make this work. And occasionally doing the absolute wrong thing, and often being far nicer than he has any obligation to be, in ways that Neal can't let himself entirely trust.