The Economics of Freedom
Elnor and Jefferson Calimlim were successful doctors, living in a 6-bedroom, 8,600 square foot, $1.2 million dollar mansion in Wisconsin, with their three children.
And an undocumented maid hidden in the basement for 19 years.
The Calimlims were eventually brought to justice and sentenced to four years in prison for harboring and involuntary servitude; their oldest son, Jefferson Jr., was also convicted of harboring. Financial restitution to the maid might be set as high as $700,000.
But the case reveals much more than the crime itself. In this excellent portrait in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, VIKKI ORTIZ paints the complicated socio-economic relationship between America's rich and the third world's poor.