A deadly van crash in Alabama, involving a work-release inmate driving six other prisoners, highlights the state’s extensive and controversial use of prison labor. The driver, with a history of escape and failed drug tests, was unsupervised and responsible for transporting inmates to jobs at private companies like Home Depot and Wayfair. Two prisoners died in the crash, raising concerns about the safety and ethical implications of Alabama’s profit-driven system of contracting out prison labor. This system, with roots in the convict leasing era, generates millions for the state while inmates face harsh conditions and low pay, often with little oversight. The incident underscores the broader issues of forced labor and exploitation within Alabama’s prisons.
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IKEA will pay €6m ($6.5m) to a German government fund set up to compensate victims of forced labour under the country’s communist regime. Political and criminal prisoners during the Cold War era were forced to build flatpack furniture for IKEA, which was aware that political prisoners were being used, according to an investigation by Ernst & Young. IKEA Germany said the payment was the result of a long-term discussion with the Union of Victims’ Associations of Communist Dictatorship. This is the first payment of its type and has been welcomed by advocacy groups who hope this will prompt other companies to follow. Germany’s parliament will vote on the establishment of the fund in the coming weeks.
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Boston area pizza shop owner, Stavros Papantoniadis, received a sentence of over eight years in federal prison for forcing employees into working under severe conditions and using violence and threats to ensure compliance. He was convicted in June on three counts each of forced labor and attempted forced labor. Papantoniadis employed undocumented workers, made them work 14-hour shifts seven days a week, and used surveillance cameras to monitor them. He also violently attacked a worker who tried to quit. The court also sentenced him to one year of supervised release and fined him $35,000.
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Milwaukee Tool recently came under fire for allegedly using Chinese forced prison labor at a supplier in Hunan Chishan Prison in China. The lawsuit claims that individuals at the prison were exploited and subjected to grueling work under dehumanizing conditions. Inmates were reportedly threatened and punished if they refused to work or did not meet production quotas, with punishments ranging from beatings to electric shocks. This revelation has sparked outrage and raised important questions about ethical business practices and human rights violations.
It is surprising to see a well-known company like Milwaukee Tool implicated in such a disturbing situation. Their claim of conducting “rigorous investigations” and cutting ties with the accused supplier may be a step in the right direction, but it does not erase the fact that forced prison labor was allegedly used in the production process.… Continue reading
John Q. Hosedrinker