US Prison Labor, Hidden Nationwide Workforce for Food Cos. - Kroger, McD, Cargill, Whole Foods

[appalachiablue]

- US prisoners are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands
Some of the most popular brands are linked to jobs performed by U.S. prisoners. ABC, The Associated Press, Jan. 29, 2024. Ed.

ANGOLA, La. -- A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source – a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison. Unmarked trucks packed with prison-raised cattle roll out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where men are sentenced to hard labor and forced to work, for pennies an hour or sometimes nothing at all.

After rumbling down a country road to an auction house, the cows are bought by a local rancher and then followed by The AP another 600 miles to a Texas slaughterhouse that feeds into the supply chains of giants like McDonald’s, Walmart and Cargill. Intricate, invisible webs, just like this one, link some of the world’s largest food companies and most popular brands to jobs performed by U.S. prisoners nationwide, according to a sweeping 2-year AP investigation into prison labor that tied hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of agricultural products to goods sold on the open market.

They are among America’s most vulnerable laborers. If they refuse to work, some can jeopardize their chances of parole or face punishment like being sent to solitary confinement. They also are often excluded from protections guaranteed to almost all other full-time workers, even when they are seriously injured or killed on the job.

The goods these prisoners produce wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products found in most American kitchens, from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour, Coca-Cola and Riceland rice. They are on the shelves of virtually every supermarket in the country, including Kroger, Target, Aldi and Whole Foods. And some goods are exported, including to countries that have had products blocked from entering the U.S. for using forced or prison labor...
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/prisoners-us-part-hidden-workforce-linked-hundreds-popular-106758543

[Irish_Dem]

1. I am asking a question here, don't jump on me.

All the legal and financial shenanigans aside, as a therapist I would advocate for prison inmates
to have a worthwhile job, learn job skills, relieve boredom, stay out of trouble, develop self esteem,
learn how to work in a team on a joint project, and be given a purpose and focus, and a sense of responsibility.
Have something to put on their resume when they leave prison and show work experience.

Also to pay back their debt to society by providing something worthwhile to the American people.

I am not saying it should be dangerous, illegal or unethical work.

The research on prison inmates who train service dogs is very good and shows a positive outcome
for the prisoners. Most people do much better with a sense of purpose and accomplishing goals.
It is much harder to rehabilitate people who are doing nothing all day.

Ok blast away.

I have some hearts. I am good.

[appalachiablue]

2. Those are good ideas, meaningtul work that helps

those incarcerated and benefits society. Nothing wrong at all.

[Irish_Dem]

3. I think our some of our billionaire overlords are against prison labor.

They resent that some industries get cheap prison labor, and they don't have access to it.

I would be for industry paying a small salary, most of it set aside for some cash
when inmates are released to get housing and transportation etc.

Also inmates making some payments towards the cost of feeding and housing them.

This is not punitive but instilling the idea of taking responsibility for themselves.