In light of the recent investigation into the ongoing practices of various companies, it is clear that corporate America’s reliance on forced labor has not markedly diminished. Serving as a stark reminder of the country’s grim history, corporate giants continue to exploit a loophole in the law by contracting with states to employ inmates for wages that fall far below the federal standards.
Lakiera Walker, an inmate who, despite being sick, was scolded for her failure to turn up at Southeastern Meats Inc‘s assembly line due to her flu, serves as an exemplar for a million other inmates nationwide. Paid about $13 an hour for packaging frozen peas and corn for Southeastern Meats, Walker barely saw any of her earnings as the lion’s share, including two-fifths, ended up with the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Allegedly, performing billions of dollars worth of labor annually for corporations and governments, inmates across the United States are being purposefully retained in prison. A groundbreaking lawsuit argues these individuals are held captive because of the profitable business they offer to corporations.
However, these practices are not new. America’s history with prison labor dates back to the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, where ‘convict leasing’ was a common practice through which prisoners were outsourced to private businesses. Although regulations and public opinion have evolved significantly since then, the irony lies in the fact that the current practices of the corporate world are not substantially different.
This investigation into forced labor in corporate America attests to a harsh reality. Despite living in a society that boldly claims principles of freedom, liberty, and justice for all, the spirit of these values seems lost in the economic labyrinth of the opportunistic private sector.
Read more about this in the original article, Corporate America Never Really Stopped Relying on Forced Labor, published on Bloomberg Law.