Prison Industries

It’s Nearly Labor Day, and Congress Has a Chance to Abolish Prison Slavery
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It’s Nearly Labor Day, and Congress Has a Chance to Abolish Prison Slavery

Johnny Perez was arrested and incarcerated two days after his daughter was born, a heart-wrenching fact by itself. Perez wanted to be there for his daughter, but he was stuck at a state prison in Coxsackie, New York. He worked hard to save money, but his prison job sewing bed sheets started at 17 cents…

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?’

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…

Exploiting Prison Workers for Cheap Sheets
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Exploiting Prison Workers for Cheap Sheets

It took Johnny Perez over four years of making hundreds of bedsheets every day at a factory to reach the top pay tier: about 32 cents an hour, nearly double his starting wage. He was one of the highest-paid workers at Coxsackie Correctional Facility—a textile manufacturer run by the New York State prison system. When…

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

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…

Your child’s glasses may have been made with forced prison labor
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Your child’s glasses may have been made with forced prison labor

When Sovannarie was 3 months old, her parents noticed something unusual about their daughter: white opacities in both pupils. Without cataract surgery — and soon — doctors predicted irreversible vision loss. Even if that procedure went perfectly, Sovannarie would need glasses to rehabilitate her eyes and prevent blindness. A decade and many operations later, Sovannarie…

Prison-Labor Bans Are About Unions More Than ‘Slavery’
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Prison-Labor Bans Are About Unions More Than ‘Slavery’

What I learned working in the correctional kitchen for 75 cents a day. I worked in York Correctional Institution’s kitchen for five years. I earned 75 cents a day for the first year, then got a raise to $1.75 a day. That job is the reason I’m alive. The work was menial, but it provided…

Voters in five states have the chance to wipe slavery and indentured servitude off the books
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Voters in five states have the chance to wipe slavery and indentured servitude off the books

When slavery was outlawed in the U.S. in 1865, the 13th Amendment included one exception. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” the amendment reads. The penalty has remained on…

The United States’ Practice of Forced Labor at Home and Abroad: Truth and Facts (Part One)
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The United States’ Practice of Forced Labor at Home and Abroad: Truth and Facts (Part One)

BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — The United States’ Practice of Forced Labor at Home and Abroad: Truth and Facts August 2022 Introduction Over the years, the United States has concocted the biggest lies of the century such as the so-called “genocide” and “forced labor” in Xinjiang, in an attempt to smear and contain China. It…

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

“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…