How could a goverment sell prisoners as slaves (without giving advantage to richs)?

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Imagine a society (medieval, but that isn't very important here) that has approved slavery. You can trade, buy, sell and hire slaves at will in the market.



Introduction



Slaves are usually "harvested" from indigenous villages that are attacked and conquered by the kingdom. Also, but not so common, people can sell their sons or even themselves to be slaves, usually if they are extremely poor (at least their new owners will usually take care of them, otherwise they will lose money). Another way to get slaves is during a war, war prisoners sometimes aren't returned to their homes after a war and they become slaves of the victorious empire, even this may happen with civilians in war zones.



The idea: Sell prisoners.



The thing that I want to add is the possibility of buying prisoners as slaves. This will have 2 main advantages:



  • The government will spend less money on prisons.

  • The slave market will have cheaper prices due a new and constant flow of slaves to the market (wars and indigenous villages aren't so common).

And finally, it may be a bit interesting.



It's quite understandable and obvious that slaves can be released. An owner can at will give freedom to its slaves, he just needs to sign a little contract that states the freedom of the person. Sometimes slaves perform deals with they masters if they work hard and without causing problems during X years they get freedom.



The problem



If you can buy prisoners as slaves and you can get them free at will, you can, as a rich person, member of a rich family, assassins/thief guild, etc, perform a criminal activity, be jailed, be bought by a friend, and finally be released by him.



Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?



Even not allowing slaves to be set free by their masters it still being the same. You can be bought by a friend, family or guild and keep your life as normal. I don't want that.



Not much necessary to know



In this world, there is magic, some magic (usually healing magic) need life forces of victims to be performed. I want to let mages buy cheap prisoners and use them as life-force batteries to power they healing services in rich hospitals. I was thinking in prisoners because they are actually criminals, not just "slaved persons", so mages wouldn't annoy about kill them to fuel their magic, also, they may be cheaper.



A solution could be to not buy the prisoner, just its life-force. A mage visits a prison, ask for some life-force, pay the price, guards transfer the prisoner to a special room, and there part of its life is taken away from him to a jar by the mage. Simple, easy and effective. But I don't like much the idea. I would like the idea of buy prisoners as assets, not just their life essence.










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  • 2




    This used to happen, at some times in some places; sell them across the border (to barbarians), or sell them in a faraway (and dirt-poor) province. As for the problem as stated, that rich people and their goons will go free, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of pre-modern justice. The entire point was to compel the criminal to pay the weregeld, the price of the victim. In the Antiquity and the Middle Ages there was no concept of prison as punishment; the punishment was either a fine, or else death. Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.
    – AlexP
    21 hours ago






  • 2




    So the problem is that slavery reduces to a fine (the price of buying the slave). Is that necessarily a problem?
    – Thomas
    16 hours ago










  • @Thomas given my initial thought it was a problem, because of rich people or assassin/thief guilds could pay for it, but applying some of the answers suggestion it seems not. Anyway, I'll wait for one or two days before accept an answer.
    – Ender Look
    15 hours ago






  • 1




    "Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations" - historically, this has been a pretty common state of affairs.
    – Geoffrey Brent
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    This is already done in the United States and is completely legal. Yes, slavery is legal in the United States of America under certain conditions, and is very heavily utilized by many companies.
    – forest
    6 hours ago















up vote
14
down vote

favorite
7












Imagine a society (medieval, but that isn't very important here) that has approved slavery. You can trade, buy, sell and hire slaves at will in the market.



Introduction



Slaves are usually "harvested" from indigenous villages that are attacked and conquered by the kingdom. Also, but not so common, people can sell their sons or even themselves to be slaves, usually if they are extremely poor (at least their new owners will usually take care of them, otherwise they will lose money). Another way to get slaves is during a war, war prisoners sometimes aren't returned to their homes after a war and they become slaves of the victorious empire, even this may happen with civilians in war zones.



The idea: Sell prisoners.



The thing that I want to add is the possibility of buying prisoners as slaves. This will have 2 main advantages:



  • The government will spend less money on prisons.

  • The slave market will have cheaper prices due a new and constant flow of slaves to the market (wars and indigenous villages aren't so common).

And finally, it may be a bit interesting.



It's quite understandable and obvious that slaves can be released. An owner can at will give freedom to its slaves, he just needs to sign a little contract that states the freedom of the person. Sometimes slaves perform deals with they masters if they work hard and without causing problems during X years they get freedom.



The problem



If you can buy prisoners as slaves and you can get them free at will, you can, as a rich person, member of a rich family, assassins/thief guild, etc, perform a criminal activity, be jailed, be bought by a friend, and finally be released by him.



Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?



Even not allowing slaves to be set free by their masters it still being the same. You can be bought by a friend, family or guild and keep your life as normal. I don't want that.



Not much necessary to know



In this world, there is magic, some magic (usually healing magic) need life forces of victims to be performed. I want to let mages buy cheap prisoners and use them as life-force batteries to power they healing services in rich hospitals. I was thinking in prisoners because they are actually criminals, not just "slaved persons", so mages wouldn't annoy about kill them to fuel their magic, also, they may be cheaper.



A solution could be to not buy the prisoner, just its life-force. A mage visits a prison, ask for some life-force, pay the price, guards transfer the prisoner to a special room, and there part of its life is taken away from him to a jar by the mage. Simple, easy and effective. But I don't like much the idea. I would like the idea of buy prisoners as assets, not just their life essence.










share|improve this question



















  • 2




    This used to happen, at some times in some places; sell them across the border (to barbarians), or sell them in a faraway (and dirt-poor) province. As for the problem as stated, that rich people and their goons will go free, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of pre-modern justice. The entire point was to compel the criminal to pay the weregeld, the price of the victim. In the Antiquity and the Middle Ages there was no concept of prison as punishment; the punishment was either a fine, or else death. Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.
    – AlexP
    21 hours ago






  • 2




    So the problem is that slavery reduces to a fine (the price of buying the slave). Is that necessarily a problem?
    – Thomas
    16 hours ago










  • @Thomas given my initial thought it was a problem, because of rich people or assassin/thief guilds could pay for it, but applying some of the answers suggestion it seems not. Anyway, I'll wait for one or two days before accept an answer.
    – Ender Look
    15 hours ago






  • 1




    "Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations" - historically, this has been a pretty common state of affairs.
    – Geoffrey Brent
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    This is already done in the United States and is completely legal. Yes, slavery is legal in the United States of America under certain conditions, and is very heavily utilized by many companies.
    – forest
    6 hours ago













up vote
14
down vote

favorite
7









up vote
14
down vote

favorite
7






7





Imagine a society (medieval, but that isn't very important here) that has approved slavery. You can trade, buy, sell and hire slaves at will in the market.



Introduction



Slaves are usually "harvested" from indigenous villages that are attacked and conquered by the kingdom. Also, but not so common, people can sell their sons or even themselves to be slaves, usually if they are extremely poor (at least their new owners will usually take care of them, otherwise they will lose money). Another way to get slaves is during a war, war prisoners sometimes aren't returned to their homes after a war and they become slaves of the victorious empire, even this may happen with civilians in war zones.



The idea: Sell prisoners.



The thing that I want to add is the possibility of buying prisoners as slaves. This will have 2 main advantages:



  • The government will spend less money on prisons.

  • The slave market will have cheaper prices due a new and constant flow of slaves to the market (wars and indigenous villages aren't so common).

And finally, it may be a bit interesting.



It's quite understandable and obvious that slaves can be released. An owner can at will give freedom to its slaves, he just needs to sign a little contract that states the freedom of the person. Sometimes slaves perform deals with they masters if they work hard and without causing problems during X years they get freedom.



The problem



If you can buy prisoners as slaves and you can get them free at will, you can, as a rich person, member of a rich family, assassins/thief guild, etc, perform a criminal activity, be jailed, be bought by a friend, and finally be released by him.



Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?



Even not allowing slaves to be set free by their masters it still being the same. You can be bought by a friend, family or guild and keep your life as normal. I don't want that.



Not much necessary to know



In this world, there is magic, some magic (usually healing magic) need life forces of victims to be performed. I want to let mages buy cheap prisoners and use them as life-force batteries to power they healing services in rich hospitals. I was thinking in prisoners because they are actually criminals, not just "slaved persons", so mages wouldn't annoy about kill them to fuel their magic, also, they may be cheaper.



A solution could be to not buy the prisoner, just its life-force. A mage visits a prison, ask for some life-force, pay the price, guards transfer the prisoner to a special room, and there part of its life is taken away from him to a jar by the mage. Simple, easy and effective. But I don't like much the idea. I would like the idea of buy prisoners as assets, not just their life essence.










share|improve this question















Imagine a society (medieval, but that isn't very important here) that has approved slavery. You can trade, buy, sell and hire slaves at will in the market.



Introduction



Slaves are usually "harvested" from indigenous villages that are attacked and conquered by the kingdom. Also, but not so common, people can sell their sons or even themselves to be slaves, usually if they are extremely poor (at least their new owners will usually take care of them, otherwise they will lose money). Another way to get slaves is during a war, war prisoners sometimes aren't returned to their homes after a war and they become slaves of the victorious empire, even this may happen with civilians in war zones.



The idea: Sell prisoners.



The thing that I want to add is the possibility of buying prisoners as slaves. This will have 2 main advantages:



  • The government will spend less money on prisons.

  • The slave market will have cheaper prices due a new and constant flow of slaves to the market (wars and indigenous villages aren't so common).

And finally, it may be a bit interesting.



It's quite understandable and obvious that slaves can be released. An owner can at will give freedom to its slaves, he just needs to sign a little contract that states the freedom of the person. Sometimes slaves perform deals with they masters if they work hard and without causing problems during X years they get freedom.



The problem



If you can buy prisoners as slaves and you can get them free at will, you can, as a rich person, member of a rich family, assassins/thief guild, etc, perform a criminal activity, be jailed, be bought by a friend, and finally be released by him.



Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?



Even not allowing slaves to be set free by their masters it still being the same. You can be bought by a friend, family or guild and keep your life as normal. I don't want that.



Not much necessary to know



In this world, there is magic, some magic (usually healing magic) need life forces of victims to be performed. I want to let mages buy cheap prisoners and use them as life-force batteries to power they healing services in rich hospitals. I was thinking in prisoners because they are actually criminals, not just "slaved persons", so mages wouldn't annoy about kill them to fuel their magic, also, they may be cheaper.



A solution could be to not buy the prisoner, just its life-force. A mage visits a prison, ask for some life-force, pay the price, guards transfer the prisoner to a special room, and there part of its life is taken away from him to a jar by the mage. Simple, easy and effective. But I don't like much the idea. I would like the idea of buy prisoners as assets, not just their life essence.







society economy slavery prison






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edited 5 mins ago

























asked 22 hours ago









Ender Look

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  • 2




    This used to happen, at some times in some places; sell them across the border (to barbarians), or sell them in a faraway (and dirt-poor) province. As for the problem as stated, that rich people and their goons will go free, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of pre-modern justice. The entire point was to compel the criminal to pay the weregeld, the price of the victim. In the Antiquity and the Middle Ages there was no concept of prison as punishment; the punishment was either a fine, or else death. Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.
    – AlexP
    21 hours ago






  • 2




    So the problem is that slavery reduces to a fine (the price of buying the slave). Is that necessarily a problem?
    – Thomas
    16 hours ago










  • @Thomas given my initial thought it was a problem, because of rich people or assassin/thief guilds could pay for it, but applying some of the answers suggestion it seems not. Anyway, I'll wait for one or two days before accept an answer.
    – Ender Look
    15 hours ago






  • 1




    "Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations" - historically, this has been a pretty common state of affairs.
    – Geoffrey Brent
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    This is already done in the United States and is completely legal. Yes, slavery is legal in the United States of America under certain conditions, and is very heavily utilized by many companies.
    – forest
    6 hours ago













  • 2




    This used to happen, at some times in some places; sell them across the border (to barbarians), or sell them in a faraway (and dirt-poor) province. As for the problem as stated, that rich people and their goons will go free, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of pre-modern justice. The entire point was to compel the criminal to pay the weregeld, the price of the victim. In the Antiquity and the Middle Ages there was no concept of prison as punishment; the punishment was either a fine, or else death. Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.
    – AlexP
    21 hours ago






  • 2




    So the problem is that slavery reduces to a fine (the price of buying the slave). Is that necessarily a problem?
    – Thomas
    16 hours ago










  • @Thomas given my initial thought it was a problem, because of rich people or assassin/thief guilds could pay for it, but applying some of the answers suggestion it seems not. Anyway, I'll wait for one or two days before accept an answer.
    – Ender Look
    15 hours ago






  • 1




    "Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations" - historically, this has been a pretty common state of affairs.
    – Geoffrey Brent
    6 hours ago






  • 1




    This is already done in the United States and is completely legal. Yes, slavery is legal in the United States of America under certain conditions, and is very heavily utilized by many companies.
    – forest
    6 hours ago








2




2




This used to happen, at some times in some places; sell them across the border (to barbarians), or sell them in a faraway (and dirt-poor) province. As for the problem as stated, that rich people and their goons will go free, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of pre-modern justice. The entire point was to compel the criminal to pay the weregeld, the price of the victim. In the Antiquity and the Middle Ages there was no concept of prison as punishment; the punishment was either a fine, or else death. Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.
– AlexP
21 hours ago




This used to happen, at some times in some places; sell them across the border (to barbarians), or sell them in a faraway (and dirt-poor) province. As for the problem as stated, that rich people and their goons will go free, this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of pre-modern justice. The entire point was to compel the criminal to pay the weregeld, the price of the victim. In the Antiquity and the Middle Ages there was no concept of prison as punishment; the punishment was either a fine, or else death. Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.
– AlexP
21 hours ago




2




2




So the problem is that slavery reduces to a fine (the price of buying the slave). Is that necessarily a problem?
– Thomas
16 hours ago




So the problem is that slavery reduces to a fine (the price of buying the slave). Is that necessarily a problem?
– Thomas
16 hours ago












@Thomas given my initial thought it was a problem, because of rich people or assassin/thief guilds could pay for it, but applying some of the answers suggestion it seems not. Anyway, I'll wait for one or two days before accept an answer.
– Ender Look
15 hours ago




@Thomas given my initial thought it was a problem, because of rich people or assassin/thief guilds could pay for it, but applying some of the answers suggestion it seems not. Anyway, I'll wait for one or two days before accept an answer.
– Ender Look
15 hours ago




1




1




"Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations" - historically, this has been a pretty common state of affairs.
– Geoffrey Brent
6 hours ago




"Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations" - historically, this has been a pretty common state of affairs.
– Geoffrey Brent
6 hours ago




1




1




This is already done in the United States and is completely legal. Yes, slavery is legal in the United States of America under certain conditions, and is very heavily utilized by many companies.
– forest
6 hours ago





This is already done in the United States and is completely legal. Yes, slavery is legal in the United States of America under certain conditions, and is very heavily utilized by many companies.
– forest
6 hours ago











10 Answers
10






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It used to be commonplace



The question show a misconception about pre-modern societies. They were not modern societies in which people dressed funny and had a handful of unusual laws; they were profoundly alien. As it is said, the past is a foreign country.




  • First of all, in pre-modern societies they had no concept of imprisonment as a form of punishment. Misdeeds were of only two kinds: most of them incurred some sort of fine, or price, to be paid; the others called for the capital punishment.



    What exactly qualified for capital punishment varied from place to place and from time to time. Murder was a capital crime in the classical world, but not so much in the early Germanic Middle Ages, where it called for payment of a man-price, or weregild. On the other hand, all pre-Renaissance penal codes were very harsh on adultery and other forms of domestic treason.




  • Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.



    The Romans called it capitis deminutio maxima, the greatest diminishment of the head. In early Rome, it involved selling the convict across the border, trans Tiberim, on the other side of the river Tiber. In more civilized times, it involved usually making the convict a slave of their punishment, servus poenae, and selling them to work in a mine, damnatio ad metalla.



    The point is that it was a capital punishment. (Capital from caput, head.) The person was legally dead. Their wealth was either confiscated or passed to their heirs. They could not come back from the dead, and enslavement was assimilated with death, servitus morti adsimulatur.



    Even if they were miraculously set free (which was usually not possible, because they were branded before being sold, and branded slaves could not be manumitted), they had no family, no relations. Wait, a modern person will say, but this was a legal fiction; of course their natural family would recognize them. Nope, not so; the past is a foreign country, and the Romans tooks family very seriously, and would never welcome an unrelated former convict.




  • Were the Romans the only one to practice penal slavery?



    No, not at all.



    In early medieval Hungary,




    Freemen could be sold into slavery for numerous crimes. Any common woman (plebeia) caught in adultery would be sold 'without the hope of freedom' (sine spe libertatis), and the same fate awaited a common man caught in the same sin.



    (Cameron Sutt, Slavery in Árpád-era Hungary in a Comparative Context, BRILL, 2015, ISBN 9789004301580)




    In some western European countries, early Germanic penal codes had similar provisions.



    In medieval China they sold the convicts far away, in the poor provinces at the margins of the empire.



    The early modern English sold them across the ocean, in America.




  • But what about the rich? And their goons?



    The rich were rich anyway. The rules did not apply to them. A rich Roman (or a rich Chinese) could never be enslaved or God forbid! executed; the worst of the worst was exile (which implied loss of property) but this was exceedingly rare, the usual maximum punishment for a rich criminal being relegation (sort of like exile, but without complete loss of property).



    And their goons? Well, rich people did not stay rich by spending money on slaves which they intended to manumit immediately, not to mention that it would have been against social decorum to do that; and in a pre-modern society, loss of face (or, as they called in Europe, dishonour) was to be avoided at all costs.







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  • 2




    The Orients used to deal in the slave trade quite a bit. In Japan, many/most of the geisha houses were made up entirely of women who where sold as children to pay off a family debt. The madame/mama-san was almost always one of these geishas who had either saved up enough money to buy their own contract or were lucky enough to earn the right to inherit the house when the previous mama-san died or retired. This form of slavery was so well honored that previous slaves enslaved others, as odd as that sounds to Westerners/modern society.
    – computercarguy
    18 hours ago

















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All prisoners are property of the Government during their sentence. The "owners" don't buy them, just hire them for long periods.



In a medieval society, because sentences need to be really harsh, you need to use those slaves only for the most dangerous jobs, like rowing ships, working in mines, etc. If not, people will commit crimes and then ran away during their slavery time, because the Government has almost no security forces and just by traveling 100 km nobody knows you.






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  • 2




    Although not exactly the same a similar principle is that in England all land technically belongs to the Crown, people who "own" land or houses have a freehold on the estate.
    – Sarriesfan
    20 hours ago






  • 2




    Sounds like "Slavery-as-a-service". :P
    – GentlePurpleRain
    18 hours ago

















up vote
6
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Face Branding



Just brand each prisoner's face so no one ever gets the wrong idea about them being free. Funny enough, this was used for the purpose of slaves in our own history. I want to point out one group specifically which were branded by the Roman Catholic church.




In the 16th century, German Anabaptists were branded with a cross on their foreheads for refusing to recant their faith and join the Roman Catholic church.




For some reason if your cringing at the thought, branding another place that is clearly visible would be possible. Think hands, neck, ankles.




Edit: It was pointed out in the comments I should put in a bit more detail, so I will answer your question directly.




Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.
How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




We cannot prevent all criminals from gaining back their old life but we can prevent them from rebuilding anything public facing. Not to mention, ostracizing people is a strong punishment in itself.



The easiest way to ostracize someone is to make them different from everyone else in a bad way. In the Southern states of the USA there were slaves, but every one had a single feature that made them different; a black skin color. Just by looking at a person in the south you could guess who was or was not a slave. This is a powerful force as all of society is enforcing your slavery.



Now you need the same solution, but applicable to any person without undue cost. This requires a clear marking that no one can ignore, removing body parts and permanent disfiguration are the easiest solutions. removing body parts may damage their ability to contribute so that is out. disfiguration only works on easily seen parts of the body and hiding your whole face is hard in society.



Siberian convict



This man was a Siberian convict of Russia. Without even knowing that, having those marks on his face clearly sets him apart from most people. He will never get away from the past even if he was set free.



Iran amputation machine



If you would rather go with the amputation method Iran recently made a machine that does it for you. Losing a finger for your crime is a clear disfiguration for the purpose of this question.






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  • You should expand on how this prevents the problem the OP is worried about, I can see it but it is not explicit.
    – John
    12 hours ago

















up vote
4
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Make owners responsible for their slaves. This is a replacement for imprisonment. So there would be a sentence length. Using their lifeforce reduces the sentence length. But otherwise, their period of enslavement is determined by the original judging entity. Purchasers cannot reduce it arbitrarily. Further, because they are responsible for crimes that their slaves may commit, this means that if a slave commits another crime, the purchaser also goes to jail. Eventually the slave runs out of friends and family members.



This allows for slaves to be bought for lifeforce. This reduces their sentence. The healers administrate that part. Slaves may also be bought for labor. But then the owner becomes responsible for the slave. Hostile owners will hire guards, etc. Friendly owners might try to do this, but then they are subject to arrest when they fail to restrict their slave.



You can further reinforce this with some arbitrary restrictions. For example, slaves may not be allowed outside on their own after dark. Break that and the slave goes back to jail for resale. The owner loses whatever investment was made to free the slave.



Other potential rules:



  • Slaves can't talk to free women, even their mothers, sisters, and daughters.

  • Slaves can't speak back to free people.

  • Slaves can't strike free people.

  • Slaves may not be allowed to drink alcohol.

  • Slaves may not be allowed to drink from free fountains.





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    up vote
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    Just like in real life, you could use parole officers to ensure the prisoners are being subjected to the punishments your government believes they should receive. Although real-life parole officers are more focused on the prisoner's background and activities outside of prison, your parole officers will be more focused on the buyer.




    Before making the purchase, the buyer must agree to uphold whatever punishments/type of work/treatment that the prisoner should receive, and how long they will remain a prisoner(assuming it isn't for life). Upon buying a prisoner destined for slavery, the buyer must register themselves(if it's their first time) and the prisoner with the nearest parole officer/parole office. These officers will typically be part of your government's normal police/military jurisdictions.



    After registering, the buyer will be subjected to periodic, and ideally random, inspections of the prisoner-turned-slave's working conditions. If the parole officer is suspicious that the buyer is not adhering to the conditions they agreed to before the purchase, the officer can issue warnings and set up more thorough, and again random, investigations.



    Should the buyer be found beyond a reasonable doubt to be treating the slaves better/worse than they should, then the slave may be taken away from the buyer without compensation. Repeated or particularly egregious offenses, such as killing, maiming, or releasing them, could result in a complete ban from further purchases.






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      There is no such thing as personal property



      The kingdom is an absolutist monarchy, along the lines of Pharaonic Egypt, Imperial China, or Achaemenid Persia. The king 'owns' everything in the country. If you have money or power, then you can pay the God-king for his material favors, or they could be granted to you as a divine boon.



      But, there is no concept of 'ownership' at all. Everything that is, belongs to the God-king; the best anyone else can hope for is the right of possession (which could of course be revoked by the king at any time).



      In this way, slaves are the property of the king, as is everything; but right merchants, guilds, lords and sundry can pay the king for the right to tell these slaves what to do.






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        up vote
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        Just back off the concept that buyers can always buy a prisoner. If your rich guy commits a crime, he becomes a prisoner that cannot be bought.



        Or you put restrictions on who can buy him; nobody that knows him. Or the government authorizes certain hard labor camps (mining, farming, gladiators) to buy such prisoners, and nobody else. And confiscate all his property and money while you are at it, so even if some friend could by subterfuge find a way to buy him out of slavery, the rich guy isn't rich anymore and cannot pay his friend back, because he has nothing.



        There are many ways out of your dilemma, just do not assume the rules have to be simple or fair. You are allowing legal slavery for god's sake.






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          up vote
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          Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



          How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




          I think you could solve or mitigate this problem by thinking over who owns a newly-convicted prisoner by default.



          In cases where it's the government of the day, they may have some good reason to not sell a criminal kingpin out of jail. There are some parallels between this and modern parole.



          On the other hand, you could set up the system so that, for example, the surviving family of a murder victim decides if, and at what price, the convicted murderer can be "bailed out" of jail and into slavery. There may still be problems of duress, but at least they might be interesting ones.



          On the final hand, "the law isn't a problem for the rich" isn't exactly unique to your situation.






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            down vote













            Assign slaves to buyers randomly.



            If your friend is sent to jail then you can buy all means request a slave. And the slave will be any one of the hundred prisoners taken in the last year or a slave from other means, maybe even one being sold back to the government. Unless you want to buy all of the slaves on the market you are pretty much out of luck.



            If they did buy their freedom like a lottery then they will be punished financially and the government will be among those reaping the benefits of the mass slave buying.






            share|improve this answer
















            • 1




              Wouldn't the buyer want to see the slave before paying for him?
              – Masclins
              5 hours ago

















            up vote
            0
            down vote













            You can ask them to serve you for an amount of time base on their crime level. For example, if they are killers, so if the rich guy wants to buy them, they must serve him 5 years before released and cannot be sold in that time.






            share|improve this answer








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              10 Answers
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              10 Answers
              10






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              active

              oldest

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              up vote
              40
              down vote













              It used to be commonplace



              The question show a misconception about pre-modern societies. They were not modern societies in which people dressed funny and had a handful of unusual laws; they were profoundly alien. As it is said, the past is a foreign country.




              • First of all, in pre-modern societies they had no concept of imprisonment as a form of punishment. Misdeeds were of only two kinds: most of them incurred some sort of fine, or price, to be paid; the others called for the capital punishment.



                What exactly qualified for capital punishment varied from place to place and from time to time. Murder was a capital crime in the classical world, but not so much in the early Germanic Middle Ages, where it called for payment of a man-price, or weregild. On the other hand, all pre-Renaissance penal codes were very harsh on adultery and other forms of domestic treason.




              • Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.



                The Romans called it capitis deminutio maxima, the greatest diminishment of the head. In early Rome, it involved selling the convict across the border, trans Tiberim, on the other side of the river Tiber. In more civilized times, it involved usually making the convict a slave of their punishment, servus poenae, and selling them to work in a mine, damnatio ad metalla.



                The point is that it was a capital punishment. (Capital from caput, head.) The person was legally dead. Their wealth was either confiscated or passed to their heirs. They could not come back from the dead, and enslavement was assimilated with death, servitus morti adsimulatur.



                Even if they were miraculously set free (which was usually not possible, because they were branded before being sold, and branded slaves could not be manumitted), they had no family, no relations. Wait, a modern person will say, but this was a legal fiction; of course their natural family would recognize them. Nope, not so; the past is a foreign country, and the Romans tooks family very seriously, and would never welcome an unrelated former convict.




              • Were the Romans the only one to practice penal slavery?



                No, not at all.



                In early medieval Hungary,




                Freemen could be sold into slavery for numerous crimes. Any common woman (plebeia) caught in adultery would be sold 'without the hope of freedom' (sine spe libertatis), and the same fate awaited a common man caught in the same sin.



                (Cameron Sutt, Slavery in Árpád-era Hungary in a Comparative Context, BRILL, 2015, ISBN 9789004301580)




                In some western European countries, early Germanic penal codes had similar provisions.



                In medieval China they sold the convicts far away, in the poor provinces at the margins of the empire.



                The early modern English sold them across the ocean, in America.




              • But what about the rich? And their goons?



                The rich were rich anyway. The rules did not apply to them. A rich Roman (or a rich Chinese) could never be enslaved or God forbid! executed; the worst of the worst was exile (which implied loss of property) but this was exceedingly rare, the usual maximum punishment for a rich criminal being relegation (sort of like exile, but without complete loss of property).



                And their goons? Well, rich people did not stay rich by spending money on slaves which they intended to manumit immediately, not to mention that it would have been against social decorum to do that; and in a pre-modern society, loss of face (or, as they called in Europe, dishonour) was to be avoided at all costs.







              share|improve this answer


















              • 2




                The Orients used to deal in the slave trade quite a bit. In Japan, many/most of the geisha houses were made up entirely of women who where sold as children to pay off a family debt. The madame/mama-san was almost always one of these geishas who had either saved up enough money to buy their own contract or were lucky enough to earn the right to inherit the house when the previous mama-san died or retired. This form of slavery was so well honored that previous slaves enslaved others, as odd as that sounds to Westerners/modern society.
                – computercarguy
                18 hours ago














              up vote
              40
              down vote













              It used to be commonplace



              The question show a misconception about pre-modern societies. They were not modern societies in which people dressed funny and had a handful of unusual laws; they were profoundly alien. As it is said, the past is a foreign country.




              • First of all, in pre-modern societies they had no concept of imprisonment as a form of punishment. Misdeeds were of only two kinds: most of them incurred some sort of fine, or price, to be paid; the others called for the capital punishment.



                What exactly qualified for capital punishment varied from place to place and from time to time. Murder was a capital crime in the classical world, but not so much in the early Germanic Middle Ages, where it called for payment of a man-price, or weregild. On the other hand, all pre-Renaissance penal codes were very harsh on adultery and other forms of domestic treason.




              • Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.



                The Romans called it capitis deminutio maxima, the greatest diminishment of the head. In early Rome, it involved selling the convict across the border, trans Tiberim, on the other side of the river Tiber. In more civilized times, it involved usually making the convict a slave of their punishment, servus poenae, and selling them to work in a mine, damnatio ad metalla.



                The point is that it was a capital punishment. (Capital from caput, head.) The person was legally dead. Their wealth was either confiscated or passed to their heirs. They could not come back from the dead, and enslavement was assimilated with death, servitus morti adsimulatur.



                Even if they were miraculously set free (which was usually not possible, because they were branded before being sold, and branded slaves could not be manumitted), they had no family, no relations. Wait, a modern person will say, but this was a legal fiction; of course their natural family would recognize them. Nope, not so; the past is a foreign country, and the Romans tooks family very seriously, and would never welcome an unrelated former convict.




              • Were the Romans the only one to practice penal slavery?



                No, not at all.



                In early medieval Hungary,




                Freemen could be sold into slavery for numerous crimes. Any common woman (plebeia) caught in adultery would be sold 'without the hope of freedom' (sine spe libertatis), and the same fate awaited a common man caught in the same sin.



                (Cameron Sutt, Slavery in Árpád-era Hungary in a Comparative Context, BRILL, 2015, ISBN 9789004301580)




                In some western European countries, early Germanic penal codes had similar provisions.



                In medieval China they sold the convicts far away, in the poor provinces at the margins of the empire.



                The early modern English sold them across the ocean, in America.




              • But what about the rich? And their goons?



                The rich were rich anyway. The rules did not apply to them. A rich Roman (or a rich Chinese) could never be enslaved or God forbid! executed; the worst of the worst was exile (which implied loss of property) but this was exceedingly rare, the usual maximum punishment for a rich criminal being relegation (sort of like exile, but without complete loss of property).



                And their goons? Well, rich people did not stay rich by spending money on slaves which they intended to manumit immediately, not to mention that it would have been against social decorum to do that; and in a pre-modern society, loss of face (or, as they called in Europe, dishonour) was to be avoided at all costs.







              share|improve this answer


















              • 2




                The Orients used to deal in the slave trade quite a bit. In Japan, many/most of the geisha houses were made up entirely of women who where sold as children to pay off a family debt. The madame/mama-san was almost always one of these geishas who had either saved up enough money to buy their own contract or were lucky enough to earn the right to inherit the house when the previous mama-san died or retired. This form of slavery was so well honored that previous slaves enslaved others, as odd as that sounds to Westerners/modern society.
                – computercarguy
                18 hours ago












              up vote
              40
              down vote










              up vote
              40
              down vote









              It used to be commonplace



              The question show a misconception about pre-modern societies. They were not modern societies in which people dressed funny and had a handful of unusual laws; they were profoundly alien. As it is said, the past is a foreign country.




              • First of all, in pre-modern societies they had no concept of imprisonment as a form of punishment. Misdeeds were of only two kinds: most of them incurred some sort of fine, or price, to be paid; the others called for the capital punishment.



                What exactly qualified for capital punishment varied from place to place and from time to time. Murder was a capital crime in the classical world, but not so much in the early Germanic Middle Ages, where it called for payment of a man-price, or weregild. On the other hand, all pre-Renaissance penal codes were very harsh on adultery and other forms of domestic treason.




              • Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.



                The Romans called it capitis deminutio maxima, the greatest diminishment of the head. In early Rome, it involved selling the convict across the border, trans Tiberim, on the other side of the river Tiber. In more civilized times, it involved usually making the convict a slave of their punishment, servus poenae, and selling them to work in a mine, damnatio ad metalla.



                The point is that it was a capital punishment. (Capital from caput, head.) The person was legally dead. Their wealth was either confiscated or passed to their heirs. They could not come back from the dead, and enslavement was assimilated with death, servitus morti adsimulatur.



                Even if they were miraculously set free (which was usually not possible, because they were branded before being sold, and branded slaves could not be manumitted), they had no family, no relations. Wait, a modern person will say, but this was a legal fiction; of course their natural family would recognize them. Nope, not so; the past is a foreign country, and the Romans tooks family very seriously, and would never welcome an unrelated former convict.




              • Were the Romans the only one to practice penal slavery?



                No, not at all.



                In early medieval Hungary,




                Freemen could be sold into slavery for numerous crimes. Any common woman (plebeia) caught in adultery would be sold 'without the hope of freedom' (sine spe libertatis), and the same fate awaited a common man caught in the same sin.



                (Cameron Sutt, Slavery in Árpád-era Hungary in a Comparative Context, BRILL, 2015, ISBN 9789004301580)




                In some western European countries, early Germanic penal codes had similar provisions.



                In medieval China they sold the convicts far away, in the poor provinces at the margins of the empire.



                The early modern English sold them across the ocean, in America.




              • But what about the rich? And their goons?



                The rich were rich anyway. The rules did not apply to them. A rich Roman (or a rich Chinese) could never be enslaved or God forbid! executed; the worst of the worst was exile (which implied loss of property) but this was exceedingly rare, the usual maximum punishment for a rich criminal being relegation (sort of like exile, but without complete loss of property).



                And their goons? Well, rich people did not stay rich by spending money on slaves which they intended to manumit immediately, not to mention that it would have been against social decorum to do that; and in a pre-modern society, loss of face (or, as they called in Europe, dishonour) was to be avoided at all costs.







              share|improve this answer














              It used to be commonplace



              The question show a misconception about pre-modern societies. They were not modern societies in which people dressed funny and had a handful of unusual laws; they were profoundly alien. As it is said, the past is a foreign country.




              • First of all, in pre-modern societies they had no concept of imprisonment as a form of punishment. Misdeeds were of only two kinds: most of them incurred some sort of fine, or price, to be paid; the others called for the capital punishment.



                What exactly qualified for capital punishment varied from place to place and from time to time. Murder was a capital crime in the classical world, but not so much in the early Germanic Middle Ages, where it called for payment of a man-price, or weregild. On the other hand, all pre-Renaissance penal codes were very harsh on adultery and other forms of domestic treason.




              • Enslavement was a form of capital punishment.



                The Romans called it capitis deminutio maxima, the greatest diminishment of the head. In early Rome, it involved selling the convict across the border, trans Tiberim, on the other side of the river Tiber. In more civilized times, it involved usually making the convict a slave of their punishment, servus poenae, and selling them to work in a mine, damnatio ad metalla.



                The point is that it was a capital punishment. (Capital from caput, head.) The person was legally dead. Their wealth was either confiscated or passed to their heirs. They could not come back from the dead, and enslavement was assimilated with death, servitus morti adsimulatur.



                Even if they were miraculously set free (which was usually not possible, because they were branded before being sold, and branded slaves could not be manumitted), they had no family, no relations. Wait, a modern person will say, but this was a legal fiction; of course their natural family would recognize them. Nope, not so; the past is a foreign country, and the Romans tooks family very seriously, and would never welcome an unrelated former convict.




              • Were the Romans the only one to practice penal slavery?



                No, not at all.



                In early medieval Hungary,




                Freemen could be sold into slavery for numerous crimes. Any common woman (plebeia) caught in adultery would be sold 'without the hope of freedom' (sine spe libertatis), and the same fate awaited a common man caught in the same sin.



                (Cameron Sutt, Slavery in Árpád-era Hungary in a Comparative Context, BRILL, 2015, ISBN 9789004301580)




                In some western European countries, early Germanic penal codes had similar provisions.



                In medieval China they sold the convicts far away, in the poor provinces at the margins of the empire.



                The early modern English sold them across the ocean, in America.




              • But what about the rich? And their goons?



                The rich were rich anyway. The rules did not apply to them. A rich Roman (or a rich Chinese) could never be enslaved or God forbid! executed; the worst of the worst was exile (which implied loss of property) but this was exceedingly rare, the usual maximum punishment for a rich criminal being relegation (sort of like exile, but without complete loss of property).



                And their goons? Well, rich people did not stay rich by spending money on slaves which they intended to manumit immediately, not to mention that it would have been against social decorum to do that; and in a pre-modern society, loss of face (or, as they called in Europe, dishonour) was to be avoided at all costs.








              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited 14 hours ago









              Brythan

              19.8k74282




              19.8k74282










              answered 20 hours ago









              AlexP

              33.2k775126




              33.2k775126







              • 2




                The Orients used to deal in the slave trade quite a bit. In Japan, many/most of the geisha houses were made up entirely of women who where sold as children to pay off a family debt. The madame/mama-san was almost always one of these geishas who had either saved up enough money to buy their own contract or were lucky enough to earn the right to inherit the house when the previous mama-san died or retired. This form of slavery was so well honored that previous slaves enslaved others, as odd as that sounds to Westerners/modern society.
                – computercarguy
                18 hours ago












              • 2




                The Orients used to deal in the slave trade quite a bit. In Japan, many/most of the geisha houses were made up entirely of women who where sold as children to pay off a family debt. The madame/mama-san was almost always one of these geishas who had either saved up enough money to buy their own contract or were lucky enough to earn the right to inherit the house when the previous mama-san died or retired. This form of slavery was so well honored that previous slaves enslaved others, as odd as that sounds to Westerners/modern society.
                – computercarguy
                18 hours ago







              2




              2




              The Orients used to deal in the slave trade quite a bit. In Japan, many/most of the geisha houses were made up entirely of women who where sold as children to pay off a family debt. The madame/mama-san was almost always one of these geishas who had either saved up enough money to buy their own contract or were lucky enough to earn the right to inherit the house when the previous mama-san died or retired. This form of slavery was so well honored that previous slaves enslaved others, as odd as that sounds to Westerners/modern society.
              – computercarguy
              18 hours ago




              The Orients used to deal in the slave trade quite a bit. In Japan, many/most of the geisha houses were made up entirely of women who where sold as children to pay off a family debt. The madame/mama-san was almost always one of these geishas who had either saved up enough money to buy their own contract or were lucky enough to earn the right to inherit the house when the previous mama-san died or retired. This form of slavery was so well honored that previous slaves enslaved others, as odd as that sounds to Westerners/modern society.
              – computercarguy
              18 hours ago










              up vote
              10
              down vote













              All prisoners are property of the Government during their sentence. The "owners" don't buy them, just hire them for long periods.



              In a medieval society, because sentences need to be really harsh, you need to use those slaves only for the most dangerous jobs, like rowing ships, working in mines, etc. If not, people will commit crimes and then ran away during their slavery time, because the Government has almost no security forces and just by traveling 100 km nobody knows you.






              share|improve this answer


















              • 2




                Although not exactly the same a similar principle is that in England all land technically belongs to the Crown, people who "own" land or houses have a freehold on the estate.
                – Sarriesfan
                20 hours ago






              • 2




                Sounds like "Slavery-as-a-service". :P
                – GentlePurpleRain
                18 hours ago














              up vote
              10
              down vote













              All prisoners are property of the Government during their sentence. The "owners" don't buy them, just hire them for long periods.



              In a medieval society, because sentences need to be really harsh, you need to use those slaves only for the most dangerous jobs, like rowing ships, working in mines, etc. If not, people will commit crimes and then ran away during their slavery time, because the Government has almost no security forces and just by traveling 100 km nobody knows you.






              share|improve this answer


















              • 2




                Although not exactly the same a similar principle is that in England all land technically belongs to the Crown, people who "own" land or houses have a freehold on the estate.
                – Sarriesfan
                20 hours ago






              • 2




                Sounds like "Slavery-as-a-service". :P
                – GentlePurpleRain
                18 hours ago












              up vote
              10
              down vote










              up vote
              10
              down vote









              All prisoners are property of the Government during their sentence. The "owners" don't buy them, just hire them for long periods.



              In a medieval society, because sentences need to be really harsh, you need to use those slaves only for the most dangerous jobs, like rowing ships, working in mines, etc. If not, people will commit crimes and then ran away during their slavery time, because the Government has almost no security forces and just by traveling 100 km nobody knows you.






              share|improve this answer














              All prisoners are property of the Government during their sentence. The "owners" don't buy them, just hire them for long periods.



              In a medieval society, because sentences need to be really harsh, you need to use those slaves only for the most dangerous jobs, like rowing ships, working in mines, etc. If not, people will commit crimes and then ran away during their slavery time, because the Government has almost no security forces and just by traveling 100 km nobody knows you.







              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited 14 hours ago









              Brythan

              19.8k74282




              19.8k74282










              answered 22 hours ago









              Alberto Yagos

              4,857829




              4,857829







              • 2




                Although not exactly the same a similar principle is that in England all land technically belongs to the Crown, people who "own" land or houses have a freehold on the estate.
                – Sarriesfan
                20 hours ago






              • 2




                Sounds like "Slavery-as-a-service". :P
                – GentlePurpleRain
                18 hours ago












              • 2




                Although not exactly the same a similar principle is that in England all land technically belongs to the Crown, people who "own" land or houses have a freehold on the estate.
                – Sarriesfan
                20 hours ago






              • 2




                Sounds like "Slavery-as-a-service". :P
                – GentlePurpleRain
                18 hours ago







              2




              2




              Although not exactly the same a similar principle is that in England all land technically belongs to the Crown, people who "own" land or houses have a freehold on the estate.
              – Sarriesfan
              20 hours ago




              Although not exactly the same a similar principle is that in England all land technically belongs to the Crown, people who "own" land or houses have a freehold on the estate.
              – Sarriesfan
              20 hours ago




              2




              2




              Sounds like "Slavery-as-a-service". :P
              – GentlePurpleRain
              18 hours ago




              Sounds like "Slavery-as-a-service". :P
              – GentlePurpleRain
              18 hours ago










              up vote
              6
              down vote













              Face Branding



              Just brand each prisoner's face so no one ever gets the wrong idea about them being free. Funny enough, this was used for the purpose of slaves in our own history. I want to point out one group specifically which were branded by the Roman Catholic church.




              In the 16th century, German Anabaptists were branded with a cross on their foreheads for refusing to recant their faith and join the Roman Catholic church.




              For some reason if your cringing at the thought, branding another place that is clearly visible would be possible. Think hands, neck, ankles.




              Edit: It was pointed out in the comments I should put in a bit more detail, so I will answer your question directly.




              Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.
              How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




              We cannot prevent all criminals from gaining back their old life but we can prevent them from rebuilding anything public facing. Not to mention, ostracizing people is a strong punishment in itself.



              The easiest way to ostracize someone is to make them different from everyone else in a bad way. In the Southern states of the USA there were slaves, but every one had a single feature that made them different; a black skin color. Just by looking at a person in the south you could guess who was or was not a slave. This is a powerful force as all of society is enforcing your slavery.



              Now you need the same solution, but applicable to any person without undue cost. This requires a clear marking that no one can ignore, removing body parts and permanent disfiguration are the easiest solutions. removing body parts may damage their ability to contribute so that is out. disfiguration only works on easily seen parts of the body and hiding your whole face is hard in society.



              Siberian convict



              This man was a Siberian convict of Russia. Without even knowing that, having those marks on his face clearly sets him apart from most people. He will never get away from the past even if he was set free.



              Iran amputation machine



              If you would rather go with the amputation method Iran recently made a machine that does it for you. Losing a finger for your crime is a clear disfiguration for the purpose of this question.






              share|improve this answer






















              • You should expand on how this prevents the problem the OP is worried about, I can see it but it is not explicit.
                – John
                12 hours ago














              up vote
              6
              down vote













              Face Branding



              Just brand each prisoner's face so no one ever gets the wrong idea about them being free. Funny enough, this was used for the purpose of slaves in our own history. I want to point out one group specifically which were branded by the Roman Catholic church.




              In the 16th century, German Anabaptists were branded with a cross on their foreheads for refusing to recant their faith and join the Roman Catholic church.




              For some reason if your cringing at the thought, branding another place that is clearly visible would be possible. Think hands, neck, ankles.




              Edit: It was pointed out in the comments I should put in a bit more detail, so I will answer your question directly.




              Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.
              How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




              We cannot prevent all criminals from gaining back their old life but we can prevent them from rebuilding anything public facing. Not to mention, ostracizing people is a strong punishment in itself.



              The easiest way to ostracize someone is to make them different from everyone else in a bad way. In the Southern states of the USA there were slaves, but every one had a single feature that made them different; a black skin color. Just by looking at a person in the south you could guess who was or was not a slave. This is a powerful force as all of society is enforcing your slavery.



              Now you need the same solution, but applicable to any person without undue cost. This requires a clear marking that no one can ignore, removing body parts and permanent disfiguration are the easiest solutions. removing body parts may damage their ability to contribute so that is out. disfiguration only works on easily seen parts of the body and hiding your whole face is hard in society.



              Siberian convict



              This man was a Siberian convict of Russia. Without even knowing that, having those marks on his face clearly sets him apart from most people. He will never get away from the past even if he was set free.



              Iran amputation machine



              If you would rather go with the amputation method Iran recently made a machine that does it for you. Losing a finger for your crime is a clear disfiguration for the purpose of this question.






              share|improve this answer






















              • You should expand on how this prevents the problem the OP is worried about, I can see it but it is not explicit.
                – John
                12 hours ago












              up vote
              6
              down vote










              up vote
              6
              down vote









              Face Branding



              Just brand each prisoner's face so no one ever gets the wrong idea about them being free. Funny enough, this was used for the purpose of slaves in our own history. I want to point out one group specifically which were branded by the Roman Catholic church.




              In the 16th century, German Anabaptists were branded with a cross on their foreheads for refusing to recant their faith and join the Roman Catholic church.




              For some reason if your cringing at the thought, branding another place that is clearly visible would be possible. Think hands, neck, ankles.




              Edit: It was pointed out in the comments I should put in a bit more detail, so I will answer your question directly.




              Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.
              How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




              We cannot prevent all criminals from gaining back their old life but we can prevent them from rebuilding anything public facing. Not to mention, ostracizing people is a strong punishment in itself.



              The easiest way to ostracize someone is to make them different from everyone else in a bad way. In the Southern states of the USA there were slaves, but every one had a single feature that made them different; a black skin color. Just by looking at a person in the south you could guess who was or was not a slave. This is a powerful force as all of society is enforcing your slavery.



              Now you need the same solution, but applicable to any person without undue cost. This requires a clear marking that no one can ignore, removing body parts and permanent disfiguration are the easiest solutions. removing body parts may damage their ability to contribute so that is out. disfiguration only works on easily seen parts of the body and hiding your whole face is hard in society.



              Siberian convict



              This man was a Siberian convict of Russia. Without even knowing that, having those marks on his face clearly sets him apart from most people. He will never get away from the past even if he was set free.



              Iran amputation machine



              If you would rather go with the amputation method Iran recently made a machine that does it for you. Losing a finger for your crime is a clear disfiguration for the purpose of this question.






              share|improve this answer














              Face Branding



              Just brand each prisoner's face so no one ever gets the wrong idea about them being free. Funny enough, this was used for the purpose of slaves in our own history. I want to point out one group specifically which were branded by the Roman Catholic church.




              In the 16th century, German Anabaptists were branded with a cross on their foreheads for refusing to recant their faith and join the Roman Catholic church.




              For some reason if your cringing at the thought, branding another place that is clearly visible would be possible. Think hands, neck, ankles.




              Edit: It was pointed out in the comments I should put in a bit more detail, so I will answer your question directly.




              Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.
              How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




              We cannot prevent all criminals from gaining back their old life but we can prevent them from rebuilding anything public facing. Not to mention, ostracizing people is a strong punishment in itself.



              The easiest way to ostracize someone is to make them different from everyone else in a bad way. In the Southern states of the USA there were slaves, but every one had a single feature that made them different; a black skin color. Just by looking at a person in the south you could guess who was or was not a slave. This is a powerful force as all of society is enforcing your slavery.



              Now you need the same solution, but applicable to any person without undue cost. This requires a clear marking that no one can ignore, removing body parts and permanent disfiguration are the easiest solutions. removing body parts may damage their ability to contribute so that is out. disfiguration only works on easily seen parts of the body and hiding your whole face is hard in society.



              Siberian convict



              This man was a Siberian convict of Russia. Without even knowing that, having those marks on his face clearly sets him apart from most people. He will never get away from the past even if he was set free.



              Iran amputation machine



              If you would rather go with the amputation method Iran recently made a machine that does it for you. Losing a finger for your crime is a clear disfiguration for the purpose of this question.







              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited 2 hours ago

























              answered 19 hours ago









              Reed

              1,876414




              1,876414











              • You should expand on how this prevents the problem the OP is worried about, I can see it but it is not explicit.
                – John
                12 hours ago
















              • You should expand on how this prevents the problem the OP is worried about, I can see it but it is not explicit.
                – John
                12 hours ago















              You should expand on how this prevents the problem the OP is worried about, I can see it but it is not explicit.
              – John
              12 hours ago




              You should expand on how this prevents the problem the OP is worried about, I can see it but it is not explicit.
              – John
              12 hours ago










              up vote
              4
              down vote













              Make owners responsible for their slaves. This is a replacement for imprisonment. So there would be a sentence length. Using their lifeforce reduces the sentence length. But otherwise, their period of enslavement is determined by the original judging entity. Purchasers cannot reduce it arbitrarily. Further, because they are responsible for crimes that their slaves may commit, this means that if a slave commits another crime, the purchaser also goes to jail. Eventually the slave runs out of friends and family members.



              This allows for slaves to be bought for lifeforce. This reduces their sentence. The healers administrate that part. Slaves may also be bought for labor. But then the owner becomes responsible for the slave. Hostile owners will hire guards, etc. Friendly owners might try to do this, but then they are subject to arrest when they fail to restrict their slave.



              You can further reinforce this with some arbitrary restrictions. For example, slaves may not be allowed outside on their own after dark. Break that and the slave goes back to jail for resale. The owner loses whatever investment was made to free the slave.



              Other potential rules:



              • Slaves can't talk to free women, even their mothers, sisters, and daughters.

              • Slaves can't speak back to free people.

              • Slaves can't strike free people.

              • Slaves may not be allowed to drink alcohol.

              • Slaves may not be allowed to drink from free fountains.





              share|improve this answer
























                up vote
                4
                down vote













                Make owners responsible for their slaves. This is a replacement for imprisonment. So there would be a sentence length. Using their lifeforce reduces the sentence length. But otherwise, their period of enslavement is determined by the original judging entity. Purchasers cannot reduce it arbitrarily. Further, because they are responsible for crimes that their slaves may commit, this means that if a slave commits another crime, the purchaser also goes to jail. Eventually the slave runs out of friends and family members.



                This allows for slaves to be bought for lifeforce. This reduces their sentence. The healers administrate that part. Slaves may also be bought for labor. But then the owner becomes responsible for the slave. Hostile owners will hire guards, etc. Friendly owners might try to do this, but then they are subject to arrest when they fail to restrict their slave.



                You can further reinforce this with some arbitrary restrictions. For example, slaves may not be allowed outside on their own after dark. Break that and the slave goes back to jail for resale. The owner loses whatever investment was made to free the slave.



                Other potential rules:



                • Slaves can't talk to free women, even their mothers, sisters, and daughters.

                • Slaves can't speak back to free people.

                • Slaves can't strike free people.

                • Slaves may not be allowed to drink alcohol.

                • Slaves may not be allowed to drink from free fountains.





                share|improve this answer






















                  up vote
                  4
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  4
                  down vote









                  Make owners responsible for their slaves. This is a replacement for imprisonment. So there would be a sentence length. Using their lifeforce reduces the sentence length. But otherwise, their period of enslavement is determined by the original judging entity. Purchasers cannot reduce it arbitrarily. Further, because they are responsible for crimes that their slaves may commit, this means that if a slave commits another crime, the purchaser also goes to jail. Eventually the slave runs out of friends and family members.



                  This allows for slaves to be bought for lifeforce. This reduces their sentence. The healers administrate that part. Slaves may also be bought for labor. But then the owner becomes responsible for the slave. Hostile owners will hire guards, etc. Friendly owners might try to do this, but then they are subject to arrest when they fail to restrict their slave.



                  You can further reinforce this with some arbitrary restrictions. For example, slaves may not be allowed outside on their own after dark. Break that and the slave goes back to jail for resale. The owner loses whatever investment was made to free the slave.



                  Other potential rules:



                  • Slaves can't talk to free women, even their mothers, sisters, and daughters.

                  • Slaves can't speak back to free people.

                  • Slaves can't strike free people.

                  • Slaves may not be allowed to drink alcohol.

                  • Slaves may not be allowed to drink from free fountains.





                  share|improve this answer












                  Make owners responsible for their slaves. This is a replacement for imprisonment. So there would be a sentence length. Using their lifeforce reduces the sentence length. But otherwise, their period of enslavement is determined by the original judging entity. Purchasers cannot reduce it arbitrarily. Further, because they are responsible for crimes that their slaves may commit, this means that if a slave commits another crime, the purchaser also goes to jail. Eventually the slave runs out of friends and family members.



                  This allows for slaves to be bought for lifeforce. This reduces their sentence. The healers administrate that part. Slaves may also be bought for labor. But then the owner becomes responsible for the slave. Hostile owners will hire guards, etc. Friendly owners might try to do this, but then they are subject to arrest when they fail to restrict their slave.



                  You can further reinforce this with some arbitrary restrictions. For example, slaves may not be allowed outside on their own after dark. Break that and the slave goes back to jail for resale. The owner loses whatever investment was made to free the slave.



                  Other potential rules:



                  • Slaves can't talk to free women, even their mothers, sisters, and daughters.

                  • Slaves can't speak back to free people.

                  • Slaves can't strike free people.

                  • Slaves may not be allowed to drink alcohol.

                  • Slaves may not be allowed to drink from free fountains.






                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 14 hours ago









                  Brythan

                  19.8k74282




                  19.8k74282




















                      up vote
                      3
                      down vote













                      Just like in real life, you could use parole officers to ensure the prisoners are being subjected to the punishments your government believes they should receive. Although real-life parole officers are more focused on the prisoner's background and activities outside of prison, your parole officers will be more focused on the buyer.




                      Before making the purchase, the buyer must agree to uphold whatever punishments/type of work/treatment that the prisoner should receive, and how long they will remain a prisoner(assuming it isn't for life). Upon buying a prisoner destined for slavery, the buyer must register themselves(if it's their first time) and the prisoner with the nearest parole officer/parole office. These officers will typically be part of your government's normal police/military jurisdictions.



                      After registering, the buyer will be subjected to periodic, and ideally random, inspections of the prisoner-turned-slave's working conditions. If the parole officer is suspicious that the buyer is not adhering to the conditions they agreed to before the purchase, the officer can issue warnings and set up more thorough, and again random, investigations.



                      Should the buyer be found beyond a reasonable doubt to be treating the slaves better/worse than they should, then the slave may be taken away from the buyer without compensation. Repeated or particularly egregious offenses, such as killing, maiming, or releasing them, could result in a complete ban from further purchases.






                      share|improve this answer


























                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote













                        Just like in real life, you could use parole officers to ensure the prisoners are being subjected to the punishments your government believes they should receive. Although real-life parole officers are more focused on the prisoner's background and activities outside of prison, your parole officers will be more focused on the buyer.




                        Before making the purchase, the buyer must agree to uphold whatever punishments/type of work/treatment that the prisoner should receive, and how long they will remain a prisoner(assuming it isn't for life). Upon buying a prisoner destined for slavery, the buyer must register themselves(if it's their first time) and the prisoner with the nearest parole officer/parole office. These officers will typically be part of your government's normal police/military jurisdictions.



                        After registering, the buyer will be subjected to periodic, and ideally random, inspections of the prisoner-turned-slave's working conditions. If the parole officer is suspicious that the buyer is not adhering to the conditions they agreed to before the purchase, the officer can issue warnings and set up more thorough, and again random, investigations.



                        Should the buyer be found beyond a reasonable doubt to be treating the slaves better/worse than they should, then the slave may be taken away from the buyer without compensation. Repeated or particularly egregious offenses, such as killing, maiming, or releasing them, could result in a complete ban from further purchases.






                        share|improve this answer
























                          up vote
                          3
                          down vote










                          up vote
                          3
                          down vote









                          Just like in real life, you could use parole officers to ensure the prisoners are being subjected to the punishments your government believes they should receive. Although real-life parole officers are more focused on the prisoner's background and activities outside of prison, your parole officers will be more focused on the buyer.




                          Before making the purchase, the buyer must agree to uphold whatever punishments/type of work/treatment that the prisoner should receive, and how long they will remain a prisoner(assuming it isn't for life). Upon buying a prisoner destined for slavery, the buyer must register themselves(if it's their first time) and the prisoner with the nearest parole officer/parole office. These officers will typically be part of your government's normal police/military jurisdictions.



                          After registering, the buyer will be subjected to periodic, and ideally random, inspections of the prisoner-turned-slave's working conditions. If the parole officer is suspicious that the buyer is not adhering to the conditions they agreed to before the purchase, the officer can issue warnings and set up more thorough, and again random, investigations.



                          Should the buyer be found beyond a reasonable doubt to be treating the slaves better/worse than they should, then the slave may be taken away from the buyer without compensation. Repeated or particularly egregious offenses, such as killing, maiming, or releasing them, could result in a complete ban from further purchases.






                          share|improve this answer














                          Just like in real life, you could use parole officers to ensure the prisoners are being subjected to the punishments your government believes they should receive. Although real-life parole officers are more focused on the prisoner's background and activities outside of prison, your parole officers will be more focused on the buyer.




                          Before making the purchase, the buyer must agree to uphold whatever punishments/type of work/treatment that the prisoner should receive, and how long they will remain a prisoner(assuming it isn't for life). Upon buying a prisoner destined for slavery, the buyer must register themselves(if it's their first time) and the prisoner with the nearest parole officer/parole office. These officers will typically be part of your government's normal police/military jurisdictions.



                          After registering, the buyer will be subjected to periodic, and ideally random, inspections of the prisoner-turned-slave's working conditions. If the parole officer is suspicious that the buyer is not adhering to the conditions they agreed to before the purchase, the officer can issue warnings and set up more thorough, and again random, investigations.



                          Should the buyer be found beyond a reasonable doubt to be treating the slaves better/worse than they should, then the slave may be taken away from the buyer without compensation. Repeated or particularly egregious offenses, such as killing, maiming, or releasing them, could result in a complete ban from further purchases.







                          share|improve this answer














                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer








                          edited 21 hours ago

























                          answered 21 hours ago









                          Giter

                          11k42736




                          11k42736




















                              up vote
                              3
                              down vote













                              There is no such thing as personal property



                              The kingdom is an absolutist monarchy, along the lines of Pharaonic Egypt, Imperial China, or Achaemenid Persia. The king 'owns' everything in the country. If you have money or power, then you can pay the God-king for his material favors, or they could be granted to you as a divine boon.



                              But, there is no concept of 'ownership' at all. Everything that is, belongs to the God-king; the best anyone else can hope for is the right of possession (which could of course be revoked by the king at any time).



                              In this way, slaves are the property of the king, as is everything; but right merchants, guilds, lords and sundry can pay the king for the right to tell these slaves what to do.






                              share|improve this answer
























                                up vote
                                3
                                down vote













                                There is no such thing as personal property



                                The kingdom is an absolutist monarchy, along the lines of Pharaonic Egypt, Imperial China, or Achaemenid Persia. The king 'owns' everything in the country. If you have money or power, then you can pay the God-king for his material favors, or they could be granted to you as a divine boon.



                                But, there is no concept of 'ownership' at all. Everything that is, belongs to the God-king; the best anyone else can hope for is the right of possession (which could of course be revoked by the king at any time).



                                In this way, slaves are the property of the king, as is everything; but right merchants, guilds, lords and sundry can pay the king for the right to tell these slaves what to do.






                                share|improve this answer






















                                  up vote
                                  3
                                  down vote










                                  up vote
                                  3
                                  down vote









                                  There is no such thing as personal property



                                  The kingdom is an absolutist monarchy, along the lines of Pharaonic Egypt, Imperial China, or Achaemenid Persia. The king 'owns' everything in the country. If you have money or power, then you can pay the God-king for his material favors, or they could be granted to you as a divine boon.



                                  But, there is no concept of 'ownership' at all. Everything that is, belongs to the God-king; the best anyone else can hope for is the right of possession (which could of course be revoked by the king at any time).



                                  In this way, slaves are the property of the king, as is everything; but right merchants, guilds, lords and sundry can pay the king for the right to tell these slaves what to do.






                                  share|improve this answer












                                  There is no such thing as personal property



                                  The kingdom is an absolutist monarchy, along the lines of Pharaonic Egypt, Imperial China, or Achaemenid Persia. The king 'owns' everything in the country. If you have money or power, then you can pay the God-king for his material favors, or they could be granted to you as a divine boon.



                                  But, there is no concept of 'ownership' at all. Everything that is, belongs to the God-king; the best anyone else can hope for is the right of possession (which could of course be revoked by the king at any time).



                                  In this way, slaves are the property of the king, as is everything; but right merchants, guilds, lords and sundry can pay the king for the right to tell these slaves what to do.







                                  share|improve this answer












                                  share|improve this answer



                                  share|improve this answer










                                  answered 19 hours ago









                                  kingledion

                                  67k22223381




                                  67k22223381




















                                      up vote
                                      3
                                      down vote













                                      Just back off the concept that buyers can always buy a prisoner. If your rich guy commits a crime, he becomes a prisoner that cannot be bought.



                                      Or you put restrictions on who can buy him; nobody that knows him. Or the government authorizes certain hard labor camps (mining, farming, gladiators) to buy such prisoners, and nobody else. And confiscate all his property and money while you are at it, so even if some friend could by subterfuge find a way to buy him out of slavery, the rich guy isn't rich anymore and cannot pay his friend back, because he has nothing.



                                      There are many ways out of your dilemma, just do not assume the rules have to be simple or fair. You are allowing legal slavery for god's sake.






                                      share|improve this answer
























                                        up vote
                                        3
                                        down vote













                                        Just back off the concept that buyers can always buy a prisoner. If your rich guy commits a crime, he becomes a prisoner that cannot be bought.



                                        Or you put restrictions on who can buy him; nobody that knows him. Or the government authorizes certain hard labor camps (mining, farming, gladiators) to buy such prisoners, and nobody else. And confiscate all his property and money while you are at it, so even if some friend could by subterfuge find a way to buy him out of slavery, the rich guy isn't rich anymore and cannot pay his friend back, because he has nothing.



                                        There are many ways out of your dilemma, just do not assume the rules have to be simple or fair. You are allowing legal slavery for god's sake.






                                        share|improve this answer






















                                          up vote
                                          3
                                          down vote










                                          up vote
                                          3
                                          down vote









                                          Just back off the concept that buyers can always buy a prisoner. If your rich guy commits a crime, he becomes a prisoner that cannot be bought.



                                          Or you put restrictions on who can buy him; nobody that knows him. Or the government authorizes certain hard labor camps (mining, farming, gladiators) to buy such prisoners, and nobody else. And confiscate all his property and money while you are at it, so even if some friend could by subterfuge find a way to buy him out of slavery, the rich guy isn't rich anymore and cannot pay his friend back, because he has nothing.



                                          There are many ways out of your dilemma, just do not assume the rules have to be simple or fair. You are allowing legal slavery for god's sake.






                                          share|improve this answer












                                          Just back off the concept that buyers can always buy a prisoner. If your rich guy commits a crime, he becomes a prisoner that cannot be bought.



                                          Or you put restrictions on who can buy him; nobody that knows him. Or the government authorizes certain hard labor camps (mining, farming, gladiators) to buy such prisoners, and nobody else. And confiscate all his property and money while you are at it, so even if some friend could by subterfuge find a way to buy him out of slavery, the rich guy isn't rich anymore and cannot pay his friend back, because he has nothing.



                                          There are many ways out of your dilemma, just do not assume the rules have to be simple or fair. You are allowing legal slavery for god's sake.







                                          share|improve this answer












                                          share|improve this answer



                                          share|improve this answer










                                          answered 18 hours ago









                                          Amadeus

                                          20.6k42980




                                          20.6k42980




















                                              up vote
                                              1
                                              down vote














                                              Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



                                              How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




                                              I think you could solve or mitigate this problem by thinking over who owns a newly-convicted prisoner by default.



                                              In cases where it's the government of the day, they may have some good reason to not sell a criminal kingpin out of jail. There are some parallels between this and modern parole.



                                              On the other hand, you could set up the system so that, for example, the surviving family of a murder victim decides if, and at what price, the convicted murderer can be "bailed out" of jail and into slavery. There may still be problems of duress, but at least they might be interesting ones.



                                              On the final hand, "the law isn't a problem for the rich" isn't exactly unique to your situation.






                                              share|improve this answer








                                              New contributor




                                              Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.





















                                                up vote
                                                1
                                                down vote














                                                Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



                                                How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




                                                I think you could solve or mitigate this problem by thinking over who owns a newly-convicted prisoner by default.



                                                In cases where it's the government of the day, they may have some good reason to not sell a criminal kingpin out of jail. There are some parallels between this and modern parole.



                                                On the other hand, you could set up the system so that, for example, the surviving family of a murder victim decides if, and at what price, the convicted murderer can be "bailed out" of jail and into slavery. There may still be problems of duress, but at least they might be interesting ones.



                                                On the final hand, "the law isn't a problem for the rich" isn't exactly unique to your situation.






                                                share|improve this answer








                                                New contributor




                                                Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                Check out our Code of Conduct.



















                                                  up vote
                                                  1
                                                  down vote










                                                  up vote
                                                  1
                                                  down vote










                                                  Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



                                                  How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




                                                  I think you could solve or mitigate this problem by thinking over who owns a newly-convicted prisoner by default.



                                                  In cases where it's the government of the day, they may have some good reason to not sell a criminal kingpin out of jail. There are some parallels between this and modern parole.



                                                  On the other hand, you could set up the system so that, for example, the surviving family of a murder victim decides if, and at what price, the convicted murderer can be "bailed out" of jail and into slavery. There may still be problems of duress, but at least they might be interesting ones.



                                                  On the final hand, "the law isn't a problem for the rich" isn't exactly unique to your situation.






                                                  share|improve this answer








                                                  New contributor




                                                  Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                  Check out our Code of Conduct.










                                                  Basically, the law won't be any problem for rich or illegal organizations.



                                                  How can I prevent this problem but allow the sale of prisoners?




                                                  I think you could solve or mitigate this problem by thinking over who owns a newly-convicted prisoner by default.



                                                  In cases where it's the government of the day, they may have some good reason to not sell a criminal kingpin out of jail. There are some parallels between this and modern parole.



                                                  On the other hand, you could set up the system so that, for example, the surviving family of a murder victim decides if, and at what price, the convicted murderer can be "bailed out" of jail and into slavery. There may still be problems of duress, but at least they might be interesting ones.



                                                  On the final hand, "the law isn't a problem for the rich" isn't exactly unique to your situation.







                                                  share|improve this answer








                                                  New contributor




                                                  Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                  Check out our Code of Conduct.









                                                  share|improve this answer



                                                  share|improve this answer






                                                  New contributor




                                                  Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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                                                  answered 21 hours ago









                                                  Roger

                                                  5145




                                                  5145




                                                  New contributor




                                                  Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                  Check out our Code of Conduct.





                                                  New contributor





                                                  Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                  Check out our Code of Conduct.






                                                  Roger is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                  Check out our Code of Conduct.




















                                                      up vote
                                                      1
                                                      down vote













                                                      Assign slaves to buyers randomly.



                                                      If your friend is sent to jail then you can buy all means request a slave. And the slave will be any one of the hundred prisoners taken in the last year or a slave from other means, maybe even one being sold back to the government. Unless you want to buy all of the slaves on the market you are pretty much out of luck.



                                                      If they did buy their freedom like a lottery then they will be punished financially and the government will be among those reaping the benefits of the mass slave buying.






                                                      share|improve this answer
















                                                      • 1




                                                        Wouldn't the buyer want to see the slave before paying for him?
                                                        – Masclins
                                                        5 hours ago














                                                      up vote
                                                      1
                                                      down vote













                                                      Assign slaves to buyers randomly.



                                                      If your friend is sent to jail then you can buy all means request a slave. And the slave will be any one of the hundred prisoners taken in the last year or a slave from other means, maybe even one being sold back to the government. Unless you want to buy all of the slaves on the market you are pretty much out of luck.



                                                      If they did buy their freedom like a lottery then they will be punished financially and the government will be among those reaping the benefits of the mass slave buying.






                                                      share|improve this answer
















                                                      • 1




                                                        Wouldn't the buyer want to see the slave before paying for him?
                                                        – Masclins
                                                        5 hours ago












                                                      up vote
                                                      1
                                                      down vote










                                                      up vote
                                                      1
                                                      down vote









                                                      Assign slaves to buyers randomly.



                                                      If your friend is sent to jail then you can buy all means request a slave. And the slave will be any one of the hundred prisoners taken in the last year or a slave from other means, maybe even one being sold back to the government. Unless you want to buy all of the slaves on the market you are pretty much out of luck.



                                                      If they did buy their freedom like a lottery then they will be punished financially and the government will be among those reaping the benefits of the mass slave buying.






                                                      share|improve this answer












                                                      Assign slaves to buyers randomly.



                                                      If your friend is sent to jail then you can buy all means request a slave. And the slave will be any one of the hundred prisoners taken in the last year or a slave from other means, maybe even one being sold back to the government. Unless you want to buy all of the slaves on the market you are pretty much out of luck.



                                                      If they did buy their freedom like a lottery then they will be punished financially and the government will be among those reaping the benefits of the mass slave buying.







                                                      share|improve this answer












                                                      share|improve this answer



                                                      share|improve this answer










                                                      answered 5 hours ago









                                                      PStag

                                                      1,708716




                                                      1,708716







                                                      • 1




                                                        Wouldn't the buyer want to see the slave before paying for him?
                                                        – Masclins
                                                        5 hours ago












                                                      • 1




                                                        Wouldn't the buyer want to see the slave before paying for him?
                                                        – Masclins
                                                        5 hours ago







                                                      1




                                                      1




                                                      Wouldn't the buyer want to see the slave before paying for him?
                                                      – Masclins
                                                      5 hours ago




                                                      Wouldn't the buyer want to see the slave before paying for him?
                                                      – Masclins
                                                      5 hours ago










                                                      up vote
                                                      0
                                                      down vote













                                                      You can ask them to serve you for an amount of time base on their crime level. For example, if they are killers, so if the rich guy wants to buy them, they must serve him 5 years before released and cannot be sold in that time.






                                                      share|improve this answer








                                                      New contributor




                                                      quang le is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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                                                        up vote
                                                        0
                                                        down vote













                                                        You can ask them to serve you for an amount of time base on their crime level. For example, if they are killers, so if the rich guy wants to buy them, they must serve him 5 years before released and cannot be sold in that time.






                                                        share|improve this answer








                                                        New contributor




                                                        quang le is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                        Check out our Code of Conduct.



















                                                          up vote
                                                          0
                                                          down vote










                                                          up vote
                                                          0
                                                          down vote









                                                          You can ask them to serve you for an amount of time base on their crime level. For example, if they are killers, so if the rich guy wants to buy them, they must serve him 5 years before released and cannot be sold in that time.






                                                          share|improve this answer








                                                          New contributor




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                                                          You can ask them to serve you for an amount of time base on their crime level. For example, if they are killers, so if the rich guy wants to buy them, they must serve him 5 years before released and cannot be sold in that time.







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                                                          answered 12 hours ago









                                                          quang le

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