An Associated Press investigation into prison labor in the United States found that prisoners who are hurt or killed on the job are often being denied the rights and protections offered to other American workers.

Blas Sanchez was nearing the end of a 20-year stretch in an Arizona prison when he was leased out to work at Hickman’s Family Farms, which sells eggs that end up in the supply chains of huge companies like McDonald’s, Target and Albertsons. While assigned to a machine that churns chicken droppings into compost, his right leg got pulled into a chute with a large spiraling augur.

“I could hear ‘crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch,’” Sanchez said. “I couldn’t feel anything, but I could hear the crunch.”

He recalled frantically clawing through mounds of manure to tie a tourniquet around his bleeding limb. He then waited for what felt like hours while rescuers struggled to free him so he could be airlifted to a hospital. His leg was amputated below the knee.

Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of prisoners are put to work every year, some of whom are seriously injured or killed after being given dangerous jobs with little or no training, The Associated Press found. They include prisoners fighting wildfires, operating heavy machinery or working on industrial-sized farms and meat-processing plants tied to the supply chains of leading brands. These men and women are part of a labor system that – often by design – largely denies them basic rights and protections guaranteed to other American workers.

  • @UnderpantsWeevil
    2•6 months ago

    Weird that you left off France, the UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, and Korea.

    • @Aux
      0•6 months ago

      The difference is that in these countries prisoners only have to work for the prison itself, doing stuff like cleaning, washing dishes, etc. They can work for a private company if they wish, but that’s not required.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
        4•6 months ago

        these countries prisoners only have to work for the prison itself

        Hard labor an increasing punishment for poor people unable to pay fines

        Current South Korean law dictates that people who are unable to pay a fine must make up the difference with hard labor. People who are sent to the workhouse under this system do hard labor alongside regular convicts. There are over 350 workhouses at more than 50 correctional facilities around the country at which a variety of work is done, including sewing and carpentry.

        There are more than 40,000 people a year like Kim who are forced to do hard labor because they are unable to pay a fine. Figures from the Ministry of Justice show this number is on the rise: over 35,700 in 2013, over 37,600 in 2014, over 42,600 in 2015 and over 42,600 in 2016. This implies that polarization is worsening and that an increasing number of people are too poor to pay their fines, just like Kim.

        “The first news I heard about my brother in 10 years was that he had died,” said Kim’s devastated younger brother Gyeong-ho, who spoke with the Hankyoreh at the flophouse in Seoul’s Jongno District where Kim had lived. The two brothers were the seventh and eighth of eight siblings. The brothers, who were eight years apart, had parted ways long ago because of their difficult financial circumstances. They had grown up together in Daegu but drifted apart after Kim left the city in search of work.

        Worked to death but its okay because the prison itself profits.