Prison Labor

Prison labor is the use of incarcerated individuals to perform work or provide services. Prison labor can take many forms, including manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and services. In some cases, prison labor may be voluntary and the individuals may receive compensation for their work. In other cases, prison labor may be mandatory and the individuals may not receive any compensation. Prison labor has been a controversial topic, as some argue that it provides valuable work experience and skills for inmates, while others argue that it exploits incarcerated individuals and undermines the labor market. There are also concerns about the conditions of prison labor, including safety, wages, and working hours. Governments and organizations have different policies and regulations regarding prison labor.

Q&A: California’s uninterrupted history of slavery
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Q&A: California’s uninterrupted history of slavery

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Slavery is often associated with the South. A new book shifts the narrative West. “California, a Slave State,” details 250 years of slavery and slave revolts in California. KPBS reporter Katie Hyson spoke with the book’s author, Jean Pfaelzer, a public historian and University of Delaware professor, about slavery throughout the state’s history, and how…

Was that made by Arizona prison labor? Prisoners make many everyday items
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Was that made by Arizona prison labor? Prisoners make many everyday items

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Your child is sleeping on a mattress made from prisoners’ clothes. At state universities, the bedding used in your kids’ dorm rooms comes from T-shirts and other clothing confiscated from prisoners during quarterly “contraband searches.” If a prisoner has too many T-shirts (they’re allowed just a few), or if the “D.O.C.” screenprint wears off, it’s…

Arizona changed how it sells prisoners to companies. The state raked in millions, but workers were neglected
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Arizona changed how it sells prisoners to companies. The state raked in millions, but workers were neglected

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Clothed in orange with elbow-high rubber gloves and large black masks, a line of workers along a conveyor belt pull lead from cathode-ray tubes. At a construction warehouse, more workers in orange jumpsuits piece together wall frames for single-family homes until one shoots a nail into his knee with a nail gun. At a canning…

Slavery rejected in some, not all, states where it was on the ballot
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Slavery rejected in some, not all, states where it was on the ballot

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Voters in three states approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, while those in a fourth state rejected the move. The measures approved Tuesday curtail the use of prison labor in Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont. In Oregon, “yes” was leading its anti-slavery ballot initiative, but…

Some prison labor programs lose money — even when prisoners work for pennies
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Some prison labor programs lose money — even when prisoners work for pennies

ByEyes on Trafficking News

“Inside Out” by Keri Blakinger is a partnership between NBC News and The Marshall Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the U.S. criminal justice system. The column draws on Blakinger’s unique perspective as an investigative journalist and formerly incarcerated person. Nora worked the fields outside Texas prisons for nearly three years. But she didn’t learn much…

New York is using prison labor to make emergency hand sanitizer
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New York is using prison labor to make emergency hand sanitizer

ByEyes on Trafficking News

“This is nothing less than slave labor and it must end.” 100,000 Gallons New York governor Andrew Cuomo has an idea to tackle a hand sanitizer shortage, The New York Times reports: use prison labor to make more of the stuff. Cuomo has enlisted the help of Corcraft, New York’s prison-based product company to produce about…

“Humanizing the Prisons” The Atlantic Monthly, August, 1911, issue. Vol. 108, No. 2 (p.170-179).
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“Humanizing the Prisons” The Atlantic Monthly, August, 1911, issue. Vol. 108, No. 2 (p.170-179).

ByEyes on Trafficking News

August 1911Humanizing the Prisonsby Morrison I. Swift The State of Vermont contains a prison where the inmates are treated upon a novel plan. They are trusted and treated like other human beings; they come and go almost as freely as the members of the jailer’s own family; so far as possible whatever suggests punishment or…