Recidivism

US prison labor is cruel and pointless legalized slavery. I know first-hand | Dyjuan Tatro
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US prison labor is cruel and pointless legalized slavery. I know first-hand | Dyjuan Tatro

by Dyjuan Tatro I was paid 10 cents an hour to do menial work that taught no skills or life lessons. Without a college-in-prison degree, I’d probably be back in prison today. Almost immediately after I was sent to prison, I was assigned to a “program”, the term American prison officials use for a job. I…

Florida keeps using unpaid prison labor to prepare for hurricanes
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Florida keeps using unpaid prison labor to prepare for hurricanes

  As Floridians prepared for Hurricane Idalia to make landfall on the upper central coast earlier this week, several counties deployed unpaid prison labor, as they have in the past, to fill the sandbags used to prevent flood damage. At least four counties — including Lake County, Polk County, Taylor County and Flagler County — relied on…

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…

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…

California lawmakers revive effort to ban involuntary servitude as punishment for crimes
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California lawmakers revive effort to ban involuntary servitude as punishment for crimes

Last year, voters in Vermont, Oregon, Tennessee and Alabama approved historic ballot measures that removed slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime from their state constitutions, which could lead to limitations on forced prison labor. They joined a growing list of states that passed similar initiatives in recent years, including Nebraska, Utah and Colorado….

Building Trust One Person at a Time: The Victim-Centered Approach to Human Trafficking
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Building Trust One Person at a Time: The Victim-Centered Approach to Human Trafficking

Connections are being made one woman at a time by offering support and meeting a few basic needs near Atkinson Street in Boston, ground zero of the city’s opioid epidemic. For many women, this is where substance use disorder and human trafficking intersect. Clinical psychologist Dr. Abigail Judge and peer advocate Sandra Andrade hit the…

Lawsuit accusing private prisons in Arizona of slavery now before top appeals court
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Lawsuit accusing private prisons in Arizona of slavery now before top appeals court

A lawsuit from civil rights organizations accusing private prisons in Arizona of practicing slavery is now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals amid a broad left-wing pushback against the use of private prisons and immigrant detention centers. The lawsuit, led by the NAACP, was initially filed in 2020 against the Arizona Department of Corrections,…

Dressember fundraises every December, supporting human trafficking victims | News
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Dressember fundraises every December, supporting human trafficking victims | News

December has begun, but it is not too late for those who wish to join the Dressember Foundation.  Dressember is an organization founded in 2013 by Blythe Hill that aims to end human trafficking and support victims and survivors. Anyone can participate – here’s how: each advocate sets up a campaign page on the Dressember…

More Than Meets the Eye: The Immense Web of Human Trafficking and Its Vast Implications
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More Than Meets the Eye: The Immense Web of Human Trafficking and Its Vast Implications

“The existing social order is a swindle and its cherished beliefs mostly delusions.” – George Orwell  Human trafficking is an issue that takes many forms and typologies across the world and society. Traditionally, human trafficking is thought of as falling into one of two categories: sex trafficking, trafficking in persons for commercial sexual exploitation, or…

Over 40% of ‘Early Release’ Inmates Re-offend, Endangering Public Safety, But Evers Expanded Program
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Over 40% of ‘Early Release’ Inmates Re-offend, Endangering Public Safety, But Evers Expanded Program

Editor’s note: this article is not specific to trafficking. It is presented as a broader look at the challenges in the American carceral system.  Gov. Tony Evers pushed expansion of the state’s “earned release” program, but it’s endangering public safety. Gov. Tony Evers’ administration expanded the state’s earned release program in multiple ways even though more…