Savannah Pollock

I know for several of us, we just see it as just like a place that you could always get a job.

And that's really what it has been treated as is a kind of, you know, if you didn't pursue college and if you didn't go into a trade area or you're waiting or whatever, you know, the prison was always an option at that time.

It offers benefits, right?

You know, sometimes benefits are better than making money.

Sometimes, you know, knowing that you have insurance and knowing that your kids have insurance in your house.

And that's one of the things that the GEO group offered to people here was this promise of good benefits and of a decent wage, which a lot of people thought was a really good thing.

And it gave them a leverage, you know, at least that they didn't want to stay out there for long.

It got them enough in their pocket to go somewhere else.

Morally, I don't think we should ever be tied to a system that hurts Black and brown bodies.

And not just that, a system that puts on a fake, fake aid of criminality.

These individuals haven't committed a crime.

When you're in a poverty level, we're just thinking about how can I get money out of my pocket.

And that's where they bring up this, you know, we just don't have jobs conversation.

But I say that this is just something you don't want to build your future upon, something that changes every four years.