70. Prison Labor
Incarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from motor oil to prescription glasses — often for pennies per hour. Zachary Crockett reports from North Carolina.
The Economics of Everyday Things
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Show Notes
Incarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from motor oil to prescription glasses — often for pennies per hour. Zachary Crockett reports from North Carolina.
SOURCES:
- Laura Appleman, professor of law at Willamette University.
- Christopher Barnes, inmate at the Franklin Correctional Center.
- Lee Blackman, general manager at Correction Enterprises.
- Brian Scott, ex-inmate, former worker at the Correction Enterprises printing plant.
- Louis Southall, warden of Franklin Correctional Center.
RESOURCES:
- "Prisoners in the U.S. Are Part of a Hidden Workforce Linked to Hundreds of Popular Food Brands," by Robin McDowell and Margie Mason (AP News, 2024).
- "Ex-Prisoners Face Headwinds as Job Seekers, Even as Openings Abound," by Talmon Joseph Smith (The New York Times, 2023).
- "Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers," by the American Civil Liberties Union and the University of Chicago Law School Global Human Rights Clinic (2022).
- "Bloody Lucre: Carceral Labor and Prison Profit," by Laura Appleman (Wisconsin Law Review, 2022).
- "Prison Labor Is on the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic," by Eliyahu Kamisher (The Appeal, 2020).
- Correction Enterprises.
EXTRAS:
- "Can Data Keep People Out of Prison?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
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