US prison labor tied to some of the world’s most popular food brands

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A hidden intricate web links hundreds of popular food brands to work done by US prisoners.

A two-year Associated Press (AP) investigation found that everything from grains, meat, eggs, and milk had been grown, harvested, or produced by incarcerated people and their labor finds its way into the supply chains of some of the most recognized brands and largest food companies in the world.

The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime.

AP spoke to prisoners who were working on plantation soil, many were making pennies an hour. Some getting nothing at all. Prisoners can sometimes be punished for refusing to work, even thrown into solitary confinement. And if they are hurt on the job, they often have little recourse.

The agriculture sector is just a fraction of the overall prison labor industry, which includes everything from public works to stamping license plates. “What the inmates learn while they’re here, they’re learning a skillset. […] They’re learning to pay back their debt to society,” said Brevard County Sheriff, Wayne Ivey.

But prisons and corporations benefit from inmate labor. The goods wind up in the supply chains of giants like Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, and Costco just to name a few.

Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans said, “They aren’t eligible for workman’s compensation. Nor are they protected by other worker safety laws because they’re not considered quote-unquote employees.”

“We’re gonna have to figure out different ways to make our system a better system instead of just exploiting labor and then calling it crime prevention,” said Curtis Davis, Prison reform advocate, who served more than 25 years at Angola.

The AP also found American prison labor linked to the supply chains of multinational companies such as Cargill that export goods all over the world. This is happening even though Washington has banned imports and even seized goods that were produced by prison or forced labor abroad.

Several companies told the AP they have policies in place restricting suppliers from using incarcerated workers. Cargill acknowledged buying goods from American prison farms and said it would determine the next steps.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

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[Reporters following van dropping off prison workers at poultry plants]

[Prison workers entering Hickman’s van]

[Images of food items]

[Arkansas Department of Corrections prisoners operating farm equipment]

[Logos of companies linked to prison labor]

[Cattle truck leaving Angola Prison]

[Cattle truck arriving at auction facility]

[Cattle at auction facility]

[Cattle being delivered to processing facility]

[McDonald’s restaurant]

[Burger King]

[Meat aisle at Walmart]

Marc Carey (interview): “I feel like I had become a slave, a product of the convict system. Because everything that I was doing was profiting the prison.”

[Arizona State Prison complex Perryville with prisoners in orange]

[Black prisoners working in woods]

[Workers in chain gang are brought back to prison after cleaning the ground of the Charleston Exposition]

[Black prisoners working in field]

[Prisoners working in agricultural fields]

[Hickman’s Egg Farm with prison workers in orange]

[Arizona State Prison complex Perryville with prisoners in orange]

[Former prisoner Crystal Allen who worked at Hickman’s egg farm and her injured finger and face]: “Any time you bump it, ugh.”

[Former prison worker in Arizona injured in accident at Hickman’s fertilizer plant]

Andrea Armstrong (interview): “They aren’t eligible for workmen’s compensation, nor are they protected by other worker’s safety laws because they’re not considered quote unquote employees.”

[Arkansas Department of Corrections prisoners loading grain trucks]

Curtis Davis (interview): “We’re going to have to figure out different way to make our system a better system instead of just exploiting labor and then calling it crime prevention.”

[Prisoners working in machine shop at farm]

[Prisoners collecting trash on side of road]

Wayne Ivey (interview): “What the inmates learn while they’re here, they’re learning a skillset. They’re learning to be responsible to something. They’re learning to pay back their debt to society.”

[Arkansas Department of Corrections prisoners herding cattle on horseback]

Matthew Boivin (interview): “I learned that if I wanted to be better. I have to make my own way, basically. That the opportunities are here. They’re not going to give them to me.”

[Hickman’s Egg Farm]

[Walmart store]

[Target store]

[Whole Foods]

[Costco Wholesale store]

[Cargill barge terminal]

[Worker inspecting disposable gloves at a Top Glove factory–which the U.S. banned on allegations of forced labor]

[A type of synthetic hair weave suspected to have been made by ethnic Chinese minorities locked inside detention camps]

Alejandro Mayorkas (interview): “DHS is deeply concerned by credible and growing reports of China’s state sponsored use of forced labor and other human rights violations in the Xinjiang region.”

[Prison workers at Hickman’s facility]

[Arkansas Department of Corrections prisoners driving tractor]

[Cargill headquarters]

[McDonald’s drive through sign]

[Meat and deli aisles at Walmart]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.