Sarah Sanders and Modern Slave Labor
Are the prison politics at play in Franklin County, Arkansas really about increasing modern slave labor?
Photo Credit: Cummins Prison Farm, 1973. Bruce Jackson. Full article here.
In a town of 2,690 people, where neighbors still wave to one another on the street, Franklin County residents are grappling with the shocking revelation that their small community is the chosen site for Arkansas’s newest mega-prison.
Sarah Sanders’s administration plans to build a 3,000-bed facility on 815 acres in Charleston at an estimated build cost of $1.5 billion—a sum so staggering it rivals the entire annual budget of some state agencies.
The decision has left residents, local officials, and advocates fuming, not only over the process but also over what this project means for their community and for Arkansas as a whole. What’s crazy is that Sanders’ administration officials went so far as to mock residents of Franklin County, comparing them to a South Park clip. This shows you how much her administration thinks of Arkansans.
A Broken Process
The announcement blindsided many. Local officials, including Representative Jon Eubanks, learned about the project only after the land purchase was finalized. Franklin County residents were similarly kept in the dark, finding out about the $3 million land deal, to purchase the land that the prison would be built on, when it was already a done deal. As it turns out, the Sanders’s administration received the site report a full week AFTER they made the final purchase decision.
“It’s un-American,” said Senator Gary Stubblefield, whose district includes Charleston. “Not involving the local community in a project of this magnitude shows an utter lack of respect for democracy.” Who knew I’d be agreeing with Senator Stubblefield!
Side note: I haven’t even mentioned the impact of prison privatization. That’s for another column, but it’s important to watch what’s happening in Arkansas and similar states because with Donald Trump and Project 2025, it will rapidly spread across the nation.
For context, Arkansas already incarcerates more residents per capita than any other state in the nation and more than any independent democratic country on the planet. And let’s remember that the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allows for slavery to continue to exist.
Text of the 13th Amendment
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction".
In his article Shockingly Candid Photos of Life on a 1970s Arkansas Prison Farm, Bruce Jackson details the sometimes horrific prison conditions in Arkansas.
So what is Sarah Sanders actually doing and what do Arkansans think about it? While local residents may not be crying foul over the 13th Amendment exception, they are making an outcry for other reasons.