Prison Slave Labor!

Human rights organizations, political and social ones (including the United Nations), are condemning what they call “a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States”. For the entrepreneurs who have invested in the prison industry, it has been a gold mine. There is mass labor performed with very little overhead. The corporations that oversee the prison (slave) labor, don't have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time employees, never arrive late and if they don't like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.

There are approximately 2 million inmates in state, federal and private prisons throughout the country. According to California Prison Focus, "no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens." Statistics show that the United States holds 25% of the world's prison population, but only 5% of the world's people. Ten years ago there were only five private prisons in the country, with a population of 2,000 inmates; now, there are 100, with 62,000 inmates.

What has happened over the last 10 years? Why are there so many prisoners?

The private contracting of prisoners for work creates incentives to jail people. Prisons depend on this income. Corporate stockholders who make money off prison labor, lobby to change laws to reflect longer sentences. The Prison Industrial Complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States.

Prison labor has its roots in slavery. And today, a new set of racist laws are seen in the inequality of drug laws and their subsequent convictions. The classic example is the difference between possessing one gram of powder cocaine or one gram of crack cocaine.

Who is investing in the prison industrial complex and prison slave labor?

At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations. The list of companies include: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Nordstrom's, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. Also recently, a (former) Oregon State Representative urged Nike to cut its production in Indonesia and bring it to his state, telling the shoe company that "there won't be any transportation costs; we're offering you competitive prison labor.” This is legalized slavery!

http://www.unicor.gov/about/overview/ ...When the prisoners work, so does the system!