Prison Labor

Prison labor is considered human trafficking when it involves the exploitation of prisoners for labor or services without their consent or under conditions that violate their rights. This can occur in both private and public prisons, and it can affect prisoners of all ages, genders, and nationalities.

Prison labor is considered human trafficking for several reasons. First, prisoners are often forced to work long hours for low pay, without proper safety measures or legal protections. This violates their rights to fair and decent working conditions, and it undermines their dignity and humanity.

Second, prisoners may be forced to work in hazardous or degrading conditions, such as cleaning septic tanks or manufacturing goods under unsafe conditions. This violates their rights to physical safety and health, and it exposes them to serious risks.

Third, prisoners may be forced to work without their consent, or they may be coerced or threatened into working. This violates their right to free choice and autonomy, and it undermines their dignity and autonomy.

Overall, prison labor is considered human trafficking when it involves the exploitation of prisoners for labor or services without their consent or under conditions that violate their rights. It is a serious and destructive form of human trafficking that must be addressed and eliminated.

Human trafficking by the numbers: New reports estimate millions of daily victims
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Human trafficking by the numbers: New reports estimate millions of daily victims

Trafficking and exploitation: how countries rank The Global Slavery Index, which includes forced marriage, ranks North Korea the worst: More than 1 in 10 people are estimated to be in conditions of modern slavery. In Eritrea, about 9 in 100 people are estimated to be modern slaves. About 3 in 100 people in Mauritania are…

Prevention Cohort LIVE Meetings, sponsored by PBJ Learning (Episodes 1-4)
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Prevention Cohort LIVE Meetings, sponsored by PBJ Learning (Episodes 1-4)

Join us! Radical Empathy welcomes all licensees and future licensees to join us at our weekly “Prevention Cohort,” where we discuss how to get the most out of training with the VR product, TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story. We get together every Thursday to discuss how others are using our tools. Come join us by…

Laundry soap made by prison labor selling for triple the price | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
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Laundry soap made by prison labor selling for triple the price | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

A popular laundry soap made by prisoners is being sold online at more than three times the list price after production fell due to novel coronavirus restrictions on prison work. Officials believe that scalpers are buying the soap in bulk to make a killing through resale. The Blue Stick soap, billed as a “superstar stain…

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

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

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

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…

U.S. among 17 countries that practice forced labor, a form of ‘modern slavery,’ report finds
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U.S. among 17 countries that practice forced labor, a form of ‘modern slavery,’ report finds

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States in 1865, with one exception: compulsory labor in prisons. “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,” it reads. Nearly 160 years later, the United States is one of…

US prisoners have become modern slaves
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US prisoners have become modern slaves

Birds fly near the US Capitol at sunrise, on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, in this Feb 8, 2022 file photo. [Photo/Agencies] Americans tend to be indignant about “forced labor” in other countries but are unaware of the prevalence of forced labor in their own country. According to a report, “Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated…

Child Labor Is on the Rise as Republicans See an Answer to Labor Shortages
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Child Labor Is on the Rise as Republicans See an Answer to Labor Shortages

A grim truth underlies U.S. industry: the appalling practice of child labor, widely perceived as an anachronism, is far from a thing of the sooty industrial past. U.S. consumers may have a hazy sense that children labor somewhere in foreign sweatshops to manufacture their goods — but such faraway tragedies are too easily forgotten at…

New York Lawmaker Proposes Legislation to Ban “Prison Slave Labor”
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New York Lawmaker Proposes Legislation to Ban “Prison Slave Labor”

Recently, a New York State Assembly Member introduced legislation in Albany to end the practice of forced prison labor, and to require that incarcerated people make at least minimum wage for their work. The objectives are to abolish slavery without exception in New York’s constitution and extend workers’ protections to incarcerated New Yorkers. Currently, New York…