‘It’s inhumane’: how US prison work breaks bodies and minds for pennies
Jennifer Tucker was imprisoned at Camp Alderson, a federal prison in West Virginia, in the early 2010’s.
While imprisoned, she explained getting a job in prison is a requirement or you are sent to a higher security prison further away from your family.
She was initially assigned to the dining room, but then moved to recycling and then to asbestos removal. Working full-time, she was only paid $5.25 every month.
“I didn’t know that it involved going through the dumpster, opening every bagful of bloody tampons, vomit, and maggots, but I had to do it until I secured another job in plumbing,” said Tucker. “We were forced to go into tunnels. The staff wore full suits to unwrap asbestos covered water lines that were supplying water from the powerhouse, but we had no suits. We then had to dump the asbestos in empty cottages on the compound.”
Tucker eventually was accepted into a dog program to work as a senior trainer, where she was paid a little more, but worked 24/7 and was housed with the dogs and three other people in a 12x12 room.
Read more at The Guardian on the prison labor industry and how it fuels the mass incarceration system in the US and how private corporations profit immensely from it.
‘It’s inhumane’: how US prison work breaks bodies and minds for pennies | US prisons | The Guardian
Corporations are making millions of dollars from US prison labor (therealnews.com)
Companies claim there’s a labor shortage. Their solution? Prisoners | US prisons | The Guardian