Earlier this week, many Americans were shocked to learn that thirty percent of Los Angeles fires were fought by inmates. However, since a loophole in the 13th Amendment permits “involuntary servitude” for those convicted of a crime, inmates are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. One example of this would be convict leasing agreements, that allowed companies to profit from predominantly Black inmates. Sadly, many popular brands have continued this tradition in the modern era, capitalizing off the "slavery loophole" for profit. It's disturbing how ubiquitous prison labor has become. Consumers are often unaware of how the sausage is made, so to speak. And this ambiguity preserves the company's reputation. In the early days, people knew sugar and cotton were direct products of slave labor. Now, folks are not so sure.
While working as a server at Oceana, a high-volume French Quarter restaurant in my twenties, I discovered dozens of kitchen employees were inmates at the Orleans parish prison. No one ever formally told the staff about the work release program, but you would quickly learn this by talking to coworkers. A white van would drop them off two blocks away during the day and pick them up in the evening. Some of their loved ones occasionally asked to see them at the side door, bringing children, hoping to catch a few moments with their fathers. Despite working long hours, they earned less than the minimum wage. Those working in the back-of-house were prohibited from serving customers directly. This allowed the prison labor system to remain disguised behind the thin veil of legitimacy. Those who stopped by for a grilled redfish plate or a fried seafood platter were unknowingly part of this broader system of exploitation. In Louisiana, the pay scale for inmates is between 0.04 to $1.00 per hour.
Americans like to envision the nation far removed from the past version of itself, because back then, the economy relied upon the barbaric system of chattel slavery. And yet, many popular brands today rely upon the labor of inmates, a practice established only because of the loophole in the 13th Amendment. For instance, the Corporate Accountability Lab found that "incarcerated workers helped produce goods in a wide range of industries, from wire harnesses made by SemahTronix, Kauffman Engineering, Electrex Inc., and Onshore Resources, to agricultural products made by Dickinson Frozen Foods, Landus Cooperative, Great Plains Manufacturing, and Moly Manufacturing, to clothing made by The Graphic Edge, Impact Design, Jelt, Prison Blues, Craig Industries, and Badlands Quilting." Inmates are contributing to society by working, but they are deprived of worker's rights and, thus, woefully exploited for corporate profit.
Some companies involved in convict leasing today are less known by the public. However, evidence suggests popular brands also capitalize on the "slavery loophole." According to Alex Park's reporting in Jacobin, Alabama, prisons have been accused of "leasing" inmates to work for McDonald's, one of America's most popular brands. When a customer pulls up to the drive-through window to pick up some burgers and fries, they have no idea that the company hires some inmates who are paid less than minimum wage. Someone wearing a company uniform takes their order, then their payment, and provides them with their order. It's such a seamless process that barely anyone stops to raise ethical concerns. All the paperwork is in order. And yet, the status of incarcerated workers leaves them vulnerable, as they cannot demand fair wages or respond to mistreatment on the job as free citizens do. There is an ongoing injustice, like a silent scream.
A nonprofit organization, Justice Catalyst, filed a class action lawsuit last September, claiming that "Alabama extracts labor from predominantly Black incarcerated Alabamians by creating and maintaining coercive conditions" in "extraordinarily violent and understaffed medium and maximum security facilities." In other words, not only are inmates often exploited, but Black people, in particular, are the primary targets of these work arrangements. Sadly, we're not as far removed from the chattel slavery era as some imagine because we're still living in a society where Black labor is readily exploited for the benefit of companies owned primarily by white people. "KFC, Wendy's, and Burger King," and "Bama Budweiser" were also listed in the suit as companies participating in this practice. Companies that have become household names in America.
At Angola Prison, a former Louisiana plantation, prisoners have sued "to end working farm lines in brutal heat," a tradition that has persisted since chattel slavery. Lamant Gross, who shared his experience as an inmate, said that he saw "guys collapse" from working in harsh conditions. The fact that men worked for "pennies an hour or nothing at all” and “face punishment if they refuse" is reminiscent of slavery, particularly when you consider Black people are overrepresented among the prisoners. One report found that "over 4,100 corporations profit from mass incarceration in the United States." This is not a small matter of a few companies exploiting the loophole in the 13th Amendment, but many. Nationally, it's estimated that incarcerated workers generate $2 billion in goods and $9 billion "worth of prison maintenance services," despite being paid an "average between 13 and 52 cents per hour, with some making nothing."
One plaintiff, Robert Earl Council, a Black man incarcerated at Limestone, a maximum security facility in Alabama, was "subject to severe and abusive treatment in retaliation for advocating that incarcerated persons refuse to submit to forced labor." According to the lawsuit, he endured "long stretches of solitary confinement, exceeding eight years," five of which he endured consecutively since founding the Free Alabama Movement. He's also been subjected to "physical beatings, harassment, death threats, and psychological abuse from Alabama guards and officials." Those trying to challenge this system from the inside are severely punished. Thus, it should not be assumed that inmates who work for companies fully consent because the threat of further punishment compels many to comply.
These details may be jolting for some Americans to learn about, as many are unaware that some of their most popular brands are "seeking to expand the forced-labor" made available from in-prison and work release programs. However, this dose of reality is perhaps the shock society needs to finally challenge this unjust system. Indeed, as long as the injustice remains ubiquitous, both ever-present and opaque, companies will continue to capitalize off the "slavery loophole" without much public pushback. While there has been substantial reporting, and research on the topic, the conversation has yet to break through, into mainstream discourse. As a result, the reputation of these brands remains entact despite their wanton exploitation of incarcerated laborers.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Dr. Allison Gaines' work on Medium.