Companies Hiring Prison Labor by Ericka Foster
On March 9th, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state of New York would be meeting the demand for hand sanitizer by having inmates make it. Ironically, not only were those inmates being paid 16 cents per hour to make the hand sanitizer, it is considered contraband and they are prohibited from having any. In fact, the hand sanitizer is one of many products made by inmates under the Corcraft brand name. According to its website, Corcraft “can only sell to government agencies at the state and local levels, schools and universities, courts, fire departments, police departments and certain not-for-profits.” Products and services include textiles, engraving, and teleservices for the Department of Motor Vehicles. It is common for state correctional facilities to create corporations designated to create and sell goods – including California, Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, and Oregon – made my incarcerated individuals. For the most part, those companies sell only to government agencies. The federal On the Unicor website, inmates at the government has a similar business entitled Bedford Hills in a call center for the Department of Motor Vehicles. Unicor. Most of these organizations are supposed to offset the costs of maintaining a prison facility, not necessarily make profits. Between 2009 and 2016, “FPI’s expenses have exceeded revenue as a result of a combination of reasons, including the economic downturn, constrained budgets of many of FPI’s federal agency customers, deactivation of military forces in recent years, and changes to procurement laws and policies," said Bureau of Prisons spokesman Justin Long in an 2016 NBC article. When companies have the opportunity to create profit, the chance for exploitation increases. Unicor has recently become available to private companies, where they brag on their website, “Imagine... All the benefits of domestic outsourcing at offshore prices. It's the best kept secret in outsourcing!”. In an article written by Politifact in June 2020 companies such as Whole Foods, Victoria’s Secret, AT&T, Bank of America, Starbucks, and Wendy’s stated that they do not use prison labor – anymore. Many stated that it is against their company policy to use suppliers that rely on prison labor. However, Wal-Mart contracts with companies that use prison labor. At first glance, it looks like exploitation – people getting paid pennies per hour (if they get paid at all) while companies earn profits. But it is a bit more complicated than that…
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