Part 1 of the January 1997 issue

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People drive by with blinders on, excising the sprawling prison and barbed wire out of the scenery. . . The Prison Industry is the fastest growing industry in the U.S. Unbeknownst to many, the U.S. is turning into a nation of prisons where large sectors of the population are employed directly or indirectly by prisons.

"BUREAU OF PRISONS REALITY RIDE"

Tom Thomas who is incarcerated at a federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia sent a letter to Kansas Environmentalists for Commerce in Hemp concerning the Prison Industry system, or UNICOR. "Let this humble little slave take you on a little Bureau of Prisons reality ride. These factories produce everything from communication cable for the military to office furniture for government office buildings to sheets towels and pillow cases. . " 1)

"PRISON LABOR IS A HOT TICKET FOR BUSINESSES SEEKING CHEAP HELP, BUT IS THE PAYOFF WORTH IT?

"The $1.3 billion of sales nationwide in 1993 is expected to increase to a whopping $8.9 billion by the year 2000, according to the Prison Industries Reform Alliance--a group that represents industries such as furniture, textiles and electronics that have suffered from prison competition.

"Tennessee inmates produce jeans for Kmart and JC Penny and wooden rocking ponies for trendy Eddie Bauer (list price $80). Some states produce toys, and many produce mattresses. Until last year, 150 Ohio inmates made car parts for Honda. Oregon inmates make uniforms for McDonald's. In Nevada, inmates convert luxury cars into stretch limousines. And nearly all of the programs produce furniture, the largest component of prison industries nationwide.

"Inmates also book rooms for motel chains and take reservations for Trans World Airlines (yes, they do take credit card numbers-and yes, there have been embarrassing incidents). In Kansas, they process Social Security numbers. In Iowa, they work for the Department of Tourism's Information Bureau, boosting the same state that locked them away. A number of states, among them Iowa and Nebraska, rent their inmates out as telemarketers.

"Many states, including Florida, Minnesota and Oregon, have turned over the administration of their prison industries programs to quasi-private, nonprofit agencies that more resemble diversified corporations than corrections programs.

"For example, UNIGROUP, Oregon's state prison industry administration, produces such familiar items as Prison Blues jeans, which are sold in nearly 500 stores nationwide. ['Made on the inside to be worn on the outside.'] The jeans sell at prices comparable to Levis and have become a trendy export item in France, Germany, Italy and Japan, where the price can reach $80 a pair.

"By the year 2000, UNIGROUP plans to employ 450 inmates in the production of $26 million in denim clothing. The program's administrators also plan to sell furniture products under the Mill Creek brand name to 500 stores this year." (2)

"Here at the Atlanta Penitentiary," Brian Mahoney writes, "there are three factories. Factory #1 makes mattresses and box springs for numerous government projects and departments. The military is our largest customer, but mattresses are also built to individual specs for other prisons, the Departments of Interior, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, etc. Factory #2 repairs and produces mailbags for the U.S. Postal Service. Factory #3 produces camouflage BDU's (Battle Dress Uniforms) for the U.S. Military and other militaries who utilize the same camouflage pattern."

PRISON INDUSTRIES ALSO BUILD MISSILE PARTS AND PROVIDE ELECTRONIC IMAGING SERVICES.

"UNICOR, Federal Prisons Industries, Phoenix, Arizona, is being awarded a $6,899,200 firm fixed price contract -- to provide for 704 adapters applicable to the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile and the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. The adapter serves as the interface between the missile launcher and the aircraft pylon. Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins AFB, Georgia, is the contracting activity (F09603-96/F- 0042). Agency: AIR FORCE." (3)

"UNICOR Data Services provides a cost-effective means for capturing and converting a wide range of documents, allowing your agency to gain control over much needed information. . . UNICOR can scan your documents and return them to you as electronic images on the media of your choice. UNICOR Data Services has a successful track record in converting the following: Full text patents, Tech manual text and illustrations, Correspondence and file folders, Litigation support documentation, Training and policy manuals, Environmental and technical reports, Supply and personnel records, Contour maps and nautical charts, Bathymetric charts

"Some of UNICOR Data Services' satisfied customers include: United States Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, United States Navy, Department of Energy, Patent and Trademark Office, Defense Mapping Agency." (4)

"Prison industries provide so many goods and services that most Americans have probably encountered them, whether they know it or not." (5)

"Now you might think this Prison Factory notion is a good idea. Put those convicts to work and save the taxpayer some hard earned dollars by unitizing convict labor for the production of goods used by the government." (6) However, before you arrive at that conclusion you might consider the following information.

UNICOR,UNFAIR ADVANTAGE? GUARANTEED MARKET

All government agencies MUST purchase needed goods or services from UNICOR, if UNICOR provides them, regardless of what anyone else bids.

LOWER BUSINESS EXPENSES

Because prisoners are paid "anywhere between 20 cents and $1.50 per hour," (7) UNICOR has lower labor costs. "The money is put toward release savings, victim restitution and court obligations such as child support. The inmates can spend what's left." (8)

There are less expensive 'worker incentives'. "If prisoners refuse to work, they are moved to disciplinary housing and lose canteen privileges. Most importantly, they lose "good time" credit that reduces their sentence." (9) According to Mr. Thomas, there are also no costly, time consuming intrusions of the various "agencies that make life miserable for private business such as the IRS, EEOC, Dept. of Labor, OCEA," or the INS. For instance, "An illegal alien can work for UNICOR. UNICOR wants illegals because according to UNICOR policy you must have a GED or high school diploma in order to advance in pay from 23c an hour. . Since most illegals can not even speak English, they will never make more than 23c an hour. They are good hard workers, who cause little tr ouble and like to work.

"You, the taxpayer, pay about $22,000 per year, per prisoner to house, feed, maintain, clothe and supply health care for Federal prisoners who are then used as slave/cheap labor in UNICOR factories." However, UNICOR pays "no Social Security taxes, no health insurance, no 401 K or retirement fund - no benefits, just an average wage of 69c per hour. . No fuss, no muss - big profit! " (10)

UNFAIR COMPETITION?

"The growth of prison industries has fueled opposition from labor and business groups across the country. The AFL-CIO has been pushing for restrictions that would limit prison industries selling to the public sector in states like Ohio, Texas, Nevada, and Florida, where state prison industries have made substantial headway into the commercial marketplace.

" 'Prison labor is one thing,' says Phil Neuenfeldt, legislative director for the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, 'but prison labor that provides unfair labor to the outside world and keeps pressure on wages downward is not a good thing. When you look at what's going on around the country, like some of the inmates that are being used to assemble PC boards for Lockhart industries, that costs 150 workers their jobs down in Texas.'

OTHER EXAMPLES ABOUND.

"In Arizona, where a hog slaughtering plant closed down, putting United Food and Commercial workers out of work, prison industry looked suspiciously like a union-busting mechanism. The plant subsequently reopened--as a joint venture between the Arizona Department of Corrections and the state's Pork Producers Association.

"In Aurora, Ill., in a minimum-security arrangement, inmates have replaced an entire third shift at the local Toys R Us, stocking shelves and sweeping up.

"In Utah, inmate labor has crippled the private-sector asbestos - removal industry. 'We find it ironic that they are putting an industry out of business that they are purportedly training people to work in,' said Steven Crawley, an attorney for the Utah Asbestos Abatement Contractors Association, which is suing Utah Correctional Industries on the claim it has illegally taken over the industry." (11)

"The use of prisoners to take away civilian jobs has a long history in the U.S. For most of the last century, prisoners were regularly leased out to plantation and factory owners. Guards whipped inmates for failing to meet quotas or for other work infractions.

"Prison labor led to the Briceville, Tennessee, Coal Creek Rebellion in 1891-92. When coal owners insisted on a contract barring union membership, coal miners were locked out, and leased convicts were forced to scab in the mines. Miners stormed the convicts' stockade and freed the prisoners. The company gave in, re-hiring the miners and halting the use of convicts.

In 1885, Texas forced mostly African American inmates to haul granite for building the new state capitol. These men, some of whom had been born into slavery, had become slaves once again. The skilled granite cutters union strongly objected to the use of prison labor and boycotted the building project. The contractor imported 62 scab cutters from Scotland to break the boycott." (12)

SLAVES, ONCE AGAIN. . . 'WAR ON DRUGS' AND UNICOR

Mr. Thomas writes. "We have recently seen the CIA - Drugs - Iran Contra - Mena, Ark. story come back to life in mainstream media. . . The 'War on Drugs' has been one of the main pluses for UNICOR and its stockholders. . . .The government has been bringing in the drugs, selling them at a profit, then locking up the users, who are then used as slave labor in Federal Prisons for UNICOR's private factories. And the taxpayer pays, and pays, and pays!

"Let's take a look at the labor force for UNICOR. . It is important to recognize that [according to the Department of Justice, 59.9%] of the current Federal Prison population is made up of 'non-violent' drug offenders. Violent prisoners do not make good factory employees." (13) It is obvious why UNICOR would prefer a non violent worker who has been given a very long sentence. "The U.S. prison population was relatively stable from about 1926, when figures were first compiled, through 1970. After this point, the effect of Nixon's war against drugs and later the Reagan and Bush war against drugs, produced a DRAMATIC increase in the number of prisoners." (14)

PRISONERS GALORE

"Hundreds of thousands of American prisoners now work in what is becoming a growth business: PRISON INDUSTRIES. The term encompasses several distinct but related arrangements: Federal and state prisons employ inmates to produce goods for sale to government and for the open market. Private companies as well contract with prisons to hire prisoners. And private prisons similarly employ inmate labor for private profit, either for outside companies or for the prison operators themselves. What all three arrangements share is the exploitation of a growing and literally captive labor pool.

"And that pool is overflowing. The U.S. now has 1.12 million people behind bars, and its incarceration rate is second only to Russia's. The U.S. rate is more than four times Canada's, five times England's, and 14 times Japan's. (15)

"Because of recent initiatives such as 'truth in sentencing,' 'three strikes and you're out' and limitations on parole, the growth in the prison population has been nothing short of explosive. In 1987, state and federal prisons housed 551,328 inmates. . .by the year 2000, more than 1,700,000 inmates will be housed in the nation's state and federal correctional institutions. " (16)

THE 'INCENTIVE PLAN'

"California long ago stopped claiming that prison labor rehabilitates inmates. Wardens just want to keep them occupied. If prisoners refuse to work, they are moved to disciplinary housing and lose canteen privileges. Most importantly, they lose 'good time' credit that reduces their sentence. . . California has been exporting prison-made clothing to Asia. California, along with Oregon [and other states], was doing exactly what the U.S. has been lambasting China for - exporting prison-made goods. Federal law prohibits domestic commerce in prison-made goods unless inmates are paid 'prevailing wage'. But because the law doesn't apply to exports, no California prison officials will end up in cells alongside their 'employees'.

"Interestingly enough, prison authorities on both sides of the Pacific make similar arguments to justify prison labor. "We want prisoners to learn a working skill", says Mai Lin Hua, warden at China's maximum security Shanghai Jail. He admits that his prisoners are forced to work, facing solitary confinement if they refuse. He also says China no longer exports prison-made goods to the U.S. " (17)

"U.S. prison officials echo a similar line, except they claim the labor is voluntary. Fred Nichols, head of Oregon's 'Prison Blues' jeans-making operation, says, 'We provide extra training for them. Here the inmates volunteer.' " (18)

The 'incentive plan' makes it easier for inmates to 'volunteer.' ". . [P]risoners in Oregon, like those virtually everywhere else in the U.S., get time subtracted from their sentences for working in prison industries. If prisoners don't work, they serve longer sentences, lose privileges, and risk solitary confinement.

"So what's the real difference between China's "forced labor" and that in the U.S. prison system? Brad Haga, marketing director for Oregon Prison Industries, sheepishly admits, "Perhaps it smacks of old-fashioned imperialism to be making those kinds of judgments." (19)

WHO OWNS UNICOR?

Mr. Thomas writes. "UNICOR is a privately held stock with a select list of customers who are the who's who of government." He further alleges that stock holders are "the legislators who make the laws and determine the length of sentence and Department of Justice officials from J. Reno on down who sit as Judges and prosecutors in the courtrooms." Mr. Mahoney also listed as stockholders, "cabinet members, high ranking government officials from every department, from both parties, from every imaginable political ideology. . . Stock is available by invitation only and is closely held by those who dictate and enforce the law. Men convicted by UNICOR stock holders are then sentenced to work in the same factories owned by the same stock holders. Products are produced which they profit from but your taxes go to the maintenance of the work force. Now think about the private companies that formerly provided those goods and services and now can not compete due to unfair labor practices and the Federal law mandating Federal agencies to buy from UNICOR."

Mr. Thomas writes. "Money is green, it's not Democrat, it's not Republican, it's not Independent - it's the most sought after 'stock' in the country. . A regular tax-paying Joe can't get any. It's all tied up by the politicians and appointed officials who now have a personal financial interest in MORE PRISONS, LONGER SENTENCES, and MORE PRISONERS! Ever wonder why the prison population has exploded . . in the last 8 years? . . .

"Nice neat little scam that is making a lot of money for a few well placed elected and appointed officials. Profits going to the 'big boys' who make and enforce the laws," (20) creating with the prison industry system their own "little Third World country " (21) right in the middle of good ole' U.S. of A.

Can you say 'CONFLICT OF INTEREST?'

Are Mr. Thomas’s allegations true? I was able to confirm that UNICOR is privately owned and stock is not openly traded on the stock exchange, making information concerning stockholders unavailable. I could not find such information on the net. Do any of my readers have access to a list of UNICOR stockholders?

IS "TOMORROW" HERE TODAY?

Mr. Thomas writes. "Tomorrow's UNICOR will be manned by patriots - Christians - Militia members and anyone who is deemed politically incorrect and therefore a 'threat' to the country. [as in "purveyors of hate"?] UNICOR is already one of the largest corporate holdings in the nation and it is growing at a time when [other 'legislatively challenged'] private businesses are downsizing and NAFTA and GATT sent jobs South of the border for cheaper labor and less government intrusion. You've got plenty of that right here. It is growing. It is your future - welcome to the New World Order. Welcome to our slave labor sight, the 'United Nations Industrial Corp.' "

"These people, who do they think they are, saying that their government has stamped out human freedom. . .We need to conduct a nation wide search for these right wing. . purveyors of hate. .." Bill Clinton

The Secret Service has been intimidating politically vocal people, threatening them with arrest and some folks have actually been incarcerated for the 'crime' of political dissension. The Washington Times reported that "on Sunday, August 25, 100 farmers were threatened with arrest and barred from protesting at Clinton's appearance at Ashland, Kentucky's Riverfront Park. . . . The farmers had traveled 60 miles or more to express their views against Clinton's plan to regulate tobacco as a drug." (22) As if the Federal government needs MORE power to regulate ANYTHING!!!

A friend of mine, who owns a military surplus store in Dyersburg, Tennessee, was harassed by the Secret Service when preparations were being made for Clinton's campaign visit. They didn't like him loading GUNS into his car for a gunshow. Incidentally, the publicity pictures you may have seen of Clinton with the 'local yokels' were actually Secret Servicemen POSING as locals. Clinton is afraid of We the People but wants to cultivate that 'folksy' image - so he has events staged for good publicity.

Patricia Mendoza and her husband Glenn encountered Secret Service muscle in Chicago first hand when she challenged Clinton "over the deaths of 19 service men plus other casualties at the Dhahran military housing complex. Patricia stated "You suck and those boys died.". . and repeated the statement several times. . . Clinton pointed her out and she was instantly pulled away and held for 14 hours of intense and frightening treatment by Secret Service agents. . . She will go on trial with her husband on charges of disorderly conduct in Chicago after having spent 14 hours - in a cockroach infested Chicago jail. . Clinton also had the IRS send them a registered letter to put a lien on their home if they did not act in accordance with their demands. (details unspecified). (23)

------------------------------------------------------------------------ SOURCES (1) Tom Thomas's letter

(2) Privatization of Prison Labor Doing time, 9 to 5, By Steven Elbow, Isthmus, Madison, WI, lursa@u.washington.edu Posted in pol-abuse@igc.apc.org (3) Periscope Tuesday, October 1, 1996 (4) UNICOR Data Services (5) Privatization of Prison (6) Thomas letter (7) Privatization of Prison Labor (8) Ibid.

(9) Prison Labor: Workin' For The Man By Reese Erlich, a free-lance reporter, who teaches journalism at California State University, Hayward. Portions of this article appeared in the UAW's magazine "Solidarity". Erlich co-produced the PBS-TV documentary "Prison Labor/Prison Blues" for We Do the Work productions. For VHS tapes, call 510 547 8484, Kyung Sung Yu provided invaluable reporting and research for this article.] (10) Thomas letter (11) Privatization of Prison (12) (data from interviews with Paul Lucko, historian studying for his Ph.D.) (Source: Covert Action Quarterly #54 - Fall/95 (13) Thomas letter (14) The Prevalence of Imprisonment, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1980 (15) Prison Labor: Workin' For The Man , Steven A. Holmes, "Ranks of Inmates Reach One Million in a 2-Decade Rise", New York Times, Oct. 28, 1994. (16) Privatization of Prison (17) Prison Labor: Workin' For The Man By Reese Erlich, Interview with Warden Mai Lin Hua at the Shanghai Jail, July 5,1994. (18) Ibid., Interview with Fred Nichols, 10/17/94. (19) Ibid., Interview with Brad Haga, 1/28/94. (20) Thomas letter (21) Privatization of Prison

(22) 9/ 30/96, Criminal Politics, P.O. Box 37432, Cincinnati, Ohio 45222

(23) ibid

***Names have been altered in above publication in order to protect.*** The political activist publisher transmitting this document knows from personal experience the government will seize your computer, and your life to silence you.

Debby Moore, Founder Kansas Environmentalists for Commerce in Hemp State Education Center & Political Action Headquarters Elected CPO District 1.3 Kansas State Lobbyists Freedom Fighter August 1994 2742 E. 2nd Wichita, KS, 67214 (316) 681-1743 hemplady@feist.com