Prison Factory

Does Prison Labor Pervert What it Means to Say ‘Made in the USA?’
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Does Prison Labor Pervert What it Means to Say ‘Made in the USA?’

ByEyes on Trafficking News

The federal government awards contracts for a vast majority of its textile production needs to factories that employ federal prisoners. Many of these prisoners make barely more than a dollar an hour and most of their earnings go back to the prison where they reside or to any child support or restitution still outstanding. This…

“The Lesson Here Is That the System Is Cruel”: Keri Blakinger on Prison Journalism
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“The Lesson Here Is That the System Is Cruel”: Keri Blakinger on Prison Journalism

ByEyes on Trafficking News

From 2010 to 2012, Keri Blakinger was incarcerated in state and county correctional facilities for possessing a ​“tupperware of heroin.” Since then, she has gone on to work as a prison reporter at the Houston Chronicle, The Marshall Project and, most recently, the Los Angeles Times. In June 2022, Blakinger published Corrections in Ink, a memoir about…

Yes, incarcerated workers still make license plates
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Yes, incarcerated workers still make license plates

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Inmates have produced license plates as part of prison labor programs for more than 100 years, and continue to do so in many U.S. states. Two out of three people incarcerated in state and federal prisons are also workers, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimated in a June 2022 report. Deb recently reached out…

CNN op-ed: Five reasons I’m optimistic despite grim new statistics on forced labor
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CNN op-ed: Five reasons I’m optimistic despite grim new statistics on forced labor

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Editor’s note: there are multiple videos on the original post’s page here. Terry FitzPatrick is director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, a coalition of US-based organizations working to prevent and combat forced labor and human trafficking in more than 100 countries. He is writing in his personal capacity as an expert with…

Forced Prison Labor in China: Hiding in Plain Sight
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Forced Prison Labor in China: Hiding in Plain Sight

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Ancient Mogilev, a former city of the medieval Duchy of Lithuania and now part of Belarus close to the border with Russia, cradled along the River Dnieper, is a most unlikely spot for an interview about forced prison labor in China. But this is the home to which Dima Siakatsky returned after his release from…