I found this interesting-Prisoners in the USA are making the electronic menu boards for McDonalds.
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Archive for March, 2008
McDonalds is doing it too…
Evocative Posters for our Exhibition
The majority of the images are taken by us (Emily, Jessica & Chu).
Work in progress evocative posters. I will include our logos soon.
Victoria Secret in 34th Herald Sq, NY
Walk offers clues to identity
(work in progress poster)
Can you identity a person just by the way he/she walks? I found an article called “Walk offers Clues to Identity” dated back in February 2003. I agree you can actually figure out the type of person by the way s/he moves her/his body; it’s just the simple gesture of the body that gives away her/his identity.
I believe you can tell a criminal by the way he/she walks and especially sex offenders. In addition, the security industry is interested in the technologies that can identity criminals out in a crowd.
Do you agree or disagree? (Just compare the walk of a nerdy person that lacks confidence, with a popular cheerleader who has a sassy and confident walk.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2712995.stm
A prisoners perspective
Paul Wright, is an advocate for prisoners rights. He is against prison labor. He spent 17 years in prison himself. His interview brought up some interesting points.
Slavery was never completely outlawed in the US, it is now used in Prisons. Most of the states pay prisoners for their work, yet some do not; Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida. Wright served time and lives in Washington state, where the average is 42 cents and hour and this works out to being 55 dollars a month.
He points out that some companies use prison labor to package their products, like Microsoft, Starbucks, and Nintendo; While others like Victoria’s secret actually have their products being made by prisoners. Nintendo games are being packaged at the Twin Rivers, Washington state Department of Corrections Sex Offender Treatment Unit. Wright reacts, “Maybe I’m the only person who found it ironic that children’s toys are being packaged by pedophiles?”
Wrights points out an interesting statistic that “2.3 million people locked up in prison and roughly 2,700 of them work for private companies.” He tells us that not all prisoners are forced to do this. You can look at it as well in another way. 2.3 million people have been pulled out of the job market, raising the number of US citizens that are un employed. What else would they be doing if not this?
The US Military benefits from prison labor as well. The prisoners are doing s service to their country by creating products like Kevlar helmets, body armor, cluster bomb casings, tow missile cables, Humvee armor and uniforms, bunk beds and wall lockers.
He also explains that in recycling computers, which many prisoners do, exposes them to various harsh chemicals, heavy metals, and dangerous conditions and substances.
A single computer contains hundreds of chemicals that are known to cause cancer and other illnesses.
Read the full story at http://www.realchangenews.org/2008/2008_02_06/main_v15n07.html
Companies Using Prison Labor
The following companies are using some form of prison slave labor in their business practices: 
Do you own/use anything made by these companies? It kind of makes you think twice about those “pink” panties you’re wearing….
Use of Prison Labor is rising in the US Farming Industry
Prisoners are learning a trade, as well as earning money that they can use later on in their life. “It helps them really pay their debt back to the folks who have been harmed in society, as well as make adequate preparation for their release back onto the streets.” says ADC director Dora Schriro. They are helping the farming industry, without their help thousands of dollars would be lost and crops would go to waste.
It is a benefit to the farmers as well, even if the practice isn’t right. The states are auditing more and more farms to find illegal workers, so the farmers must look elsewhere for cheap labor. “It’s an effort by firms to find the worker who’s easiest to exploit, who they don’t have to pay benefits, who can drive wages down,” -David Smith, AFL-CIO.
Low-security inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes from the Picacho (Ariz.) Prison Unit work at LBJ Farm pitching watermelons for $2 an hour.
Inmates from the Picacho Prison Unit sign their time cards. Their salary goes to pay prison room and board, social restitution for their crimes, and into prisoner savings accounts.
Manuel Reyna, serving a 6.5 year drug sentence, has earned $9,000 this way, a sum he’ll access upon his release. 
Inmates and Mexican workers work side by side, boxing the melons for shipment. 
Inmates board buses to go back to their prison a few miles away. The growing controversy over illegal immigrant workers has fueled interest in Arizona’s longstanding prison-work program.
View the full story at http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0822/p14s02-wmgn.html?page=1
This is a very informational video: http://www.csmonitor.com/slideshows/2007/prison_labor/
Testimonials
Inmates are Benefiting - Testimonials
Inmates are making Calls, not License plates
Inmate Chris Harry works for the call center industry. He gets 130$ a month. “I can’t complain about fair,” said Harry, sentenced to 10 years and eight months for robbery. “I did a crime and I’m in prison. At least I’m not wearing a ball and chain.” Harry said he is thankful for the skills he has learned in prison, and intends to attend college when he is released.
Inmate Daniel Hendricks – “In the event I am released I can go out there and get a job and I already know their products. That’s not something I got to learn.”
“Really it’s benefiting us. It gives us an opportunity to gain those skills that are going to be necessary when you get out of here,” – inmate Mark Rowley
View the full story At http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/25/national/main602112.shtml
A few Statistics
Heres a few statistics we have gathered:
-There are presently 80,000 inmates in the US employed in commercial activity.
-36 State now have laws permitting the use off convict labor by commercial enterprises
-The growth of prison labor has directly led to the destruction of other workers’ jobs. For example, Lockhart Technologies, Inc. closed its plant in Austin, Texas, dismissing its 150 workers so that it could open shop in a state prison in Lockhart.
-Experts believe that the number of people locked up in the US could double in the next 10 years. The expansion of the number of prisoners will not only increase the pool of slave labor available for commercial profit, but also will help pay for the costs of incarceration.
Pros and Cons
Here is a List of the Pros and Cons we have collected after our researched over the past few weeks.
PROS-
• Saves money for economy
• Punishment for prisoners
• Faster passing time for prisoners
• No need to purchase from third world country (child labor)
• Prisoners would be able to buy things (possible income)
• Perhaps even lower the crime rate (After prison, they can use PIE for a job = second chance)
• Prisoners keep 20% of what they earn (Dept. of Corrections keep the bulk of the prisoners’ wages as reimbursement for room & board)
•Keeps inmates busy
•Skills are learned that can be utilized when they are released.
•More logical to have Americans working rather then bringing in foreigners to fill the jobs
•It cuts repeat offenses anywhere from 26-60%
•Recruit businesses to use it that would otherwise move offshore – the prison industry could really help the U.S. economy
CONS-
• No health benefit & no safety (toxic chemicals & unsafe conditions)
• Can’t form unions & if rebel, therefore the ringleader is send to the hole
• Very low wages
• California, 3 strikes = 25 years to life sentence
• What happened if the prisoner is innocent?
• Prisons are being built faster than universities
• Businessmen beg for prison labor (cheap)
• 40% state’s inmates return to prison, which prison system did little to improve those odds
•= Not much compensation: Thirty percent of their wages go to room and board in prison. The rest goes to court-ordered restitution for victims, any child support, and a mandatory savings account
•Exposure to toxic hazardous chemicals from disassembling electronic waste (e-waste) -obsolete computers, televisions ect, for recycling. High levels of arsenic, selenium, mercury, lead, dioxins and beryllium
• Refusal to work, they serve longer sentences, lose privileges, and risk solitary confinement.
