Companies Benefitting from Prison Labor
Updated August 2020
Prison labor generates $1 billion dollars and is profitable business both for our government and the companies that benefit directly and indirectly from prison contracts. Meanwhile, prisoners are only paid on average between $0.14 and $1.41 per hour—if they earn anything at all. Inmates in government run facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas are paid nothing at all.
Back in 2018 I wrote an issue of the newsletter focused on the companies that benefit from prison labor (Issue #65), which many consider to be slave labor. Over the past few months I’ve noticed a lot of traffic on this website to that page, so I thought it’d be helpful to provide a more comprehensive resource with all the research we found.
Directly below, you’ll see a Google doc with all the companies we could find any information on along with the source. On the second tab of the file, you can see a list of additional resources we referenced during our research.
Please feel free to share this resource widely. We also welcome additional info and updates via info@abovethebottomline.com.
“THE COMPANIES WHO PROFIT OFF OF THIS MODERN DAY SLAVERY HAVE BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS, JUST LIKE HISTORY’S CRAVEN FACTORY OWNERS AND COAL BOSSES WHO OVERSAW THE DEATHS AND DEGRADATION OF PREVIOUS GENERATIONS.”
Recommended Resources:
If you’re interested in exploring some of the resources we referenced, here are a few I’d particularly recommend.
State and federal prison wage policies and sourcing information [Prison Policy Initiative]
People Are Calling To Abolish Prison Labor. Here's What That Actually Means. [Bustle]
How the Ongoing Prison Strike is Connected to the Labor Movement [Teen Vogue]