10 Everyday Things You didn't know are made in Prisons
1. Household and Office Furniture
2. Lingerie
3. Brooms and Brushes
4. Digital, Data and Call Center Services. Oregon, Arizona, California and Iowas and oversees
5. Processed Meats. Meat packing plants and prisoners? I saw the movie.
6. Prescription Eyeglasses. PRIDE a manufacturer in Florida uses the Broward Correctional Institution for Women has an excellent rehabilitation program.
7. Household Chemical Products: laundry detergent, bathroom cleansers, glass polish, etc. Chemicals and prisoners? a bit weird
8. Dentures/orthodontics. Another rehabilitation program.
9. Heavy Vehicle Refits/Renovation. This includes SWAT units, Crime Scene Collection Units, Bomb Squad Units, Breath Analysis Laboratory, Detention Vehicles, and more. Weird.
10. Kevlar Bulletproof Vests.
Read all the Companies who use Prison Production at the bottom of the article, HERE.
Hat Tip to Bill Crider
10 comments:
I don't think this is a good thing.
At a time when so many millions are unemployed or involuntarily working part-time, it would be so much better if some of the unemployed could have these jobs and make decent wages for the work, instead of using unpaid prison labor.
It would help provide jobs for those who need them and bring more income into the economy, which is needed, and it would end using unpaid labor for work, which, in my moral universe, is involuntary servitude.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
I am a little worried about the call centers. They have my address, phone number and who knows what else. This does not compute: criminals and my ID stuff.
Exactly..
I once realized I was talking to a friendly woman prisoner by an aside she made as I ordered something on the phone. I had already given my credit card information and wondered how smart this was! Note: I never had a problem with that card or any other in my name.
Criminals making bullet-proof vests. There's something to ponder. And lingerie--I'm guessing they have the sex-offenders in that shop.
Having been in prison ministry for several years, I can assure you most prisoners who participate in work programs wind up better off for it. Some trustees build or remodel houses for the elderly and handicapped. That gives them a sense of doing something right and it teaches them skills they can use in the free world when they serve their time. Prisoners who learn a trade skill are far less apt to revert to criminal activities.
JMW
JMW is right - besides learning skills that will help ex-convicts avoid returning to crime after their prison release, their employment also saves taxpayers and non-profit dollars. Prisoners receive a small hourly wage for their work, but more importantly, the prison is paid a bigger amount for prisoner labor. This helps defuse the cost of incarcerating them, which can run $50,000 a year paid for by us.
I had a friend who ran a non-profit animal shelter and she hired county prisoners to clean out the cages and feed the animals. Only prisoners with good behavior points were eligible and it was a popular job. It helped them to learn to be more compassionate.
The truth is, if those companies couldn't hire cheap prison labor, the jobs would go overseas anyway. Believe me, I'm very sympathetic to the unemployed, lots of people in my family have been jobless for a long time, but they're not losing out because of prison labor.
thanks for all the comments. I certainly believe in rehabilitation. Sadly, the jobs would go overseas as Veronica stated.
Some jobs have to be kept here. How can 30 million people become employed or moved back to full-time jobs--which they need and the economy needs.
Sad article in the NY Times about how hard it is for the middle-aged workers who have been laid off to find jobs, even they are trying hard.
What I'd wish more prisoners would do is train dogs to be service dogs to disabled veterans.
They develop bonds with the dogs, gain compassion (as was said above) and also give and receive love.
And disabled veterans receive trained dogs.
Glenn Close fundraises for this program. I'm all for it--and not a dry eye in the house when one watches a tv segment about it.
When I saw this item I was reminded of an article in today's news. A convicted serial killer in Sydney (at least 7 murders) now has his own Facebook page. Yet he has no access to the internet. He doesn't make any of the goods listed in Bill Crider's note. Somehow he is exporting from super-max his particular brand of evil. What makes this sadder is that it attracts a certain type. People are responding to his Facebook page. Got to be a book here somewhere.
My own serial killer (The Morozov Inheritance) was in a time before the net.
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