Made In America - How These 7 Popular Companies Are Exploiting Prisoners And Ruining The EconomyBy Brianna Acuesta How does this affect America? First of all, outsourcing, which is frowned upon by those who know about it because of its economic effect on American citizens, is replaced with insourcing, which is when corporations employ prisoners for as little as $0.23 per hour. Outsourcing affects the American economy by choosing to employ workers in foreign countries rather than displaced workers in America itself, thus causing a rise in unemployment and poverty. Insourcing is just as bad for the economy for several reasons. The extremely low pay for prisoners might be fine if the prices they have to pay for communication and commissary items werent so vastly inflated compared to their wages. Instead of being released from prison with job experience and a small bit of money in their pocket to get back on their feet, inmates are often released with a debt to the prison that they cant pay off because of the low wages. Some might argue that these inmates are criminals, so they should take what they get and not complain, but consider what this means for America as a whole. Since these criminals are in debt upon release, they re-enter society as unstable individuals looking for any way to earn money again, often causing them to relapse into old habits or crimes and landing them back in prison. The American taxpayers are the ones that wind up paying for the prisoners continued stays in correctional facilities, which could have been avoided if the inmates didnt have the debt and had better job training or program opportunities. Meanwhile, the companies that employ prisoners often get huge tax breaks, which is millions of dollars that the American people could have benefited from. On top of all of that, citizens of America that arent incarcerated dont have those job opportunities that are given to inmates. Less Americans with jobs means that the economy remains stagnant because less citizens are spending money.So, yes, it has a significant impact on all Americans. While most huge companies in America employ prisoners, here is a list of household names that really make a killing off of the prison-industrial complex: 1 Whole Foods: Often called Whole Paycheck because of its pricey items, this company came under fire when it was revealed that they were selling artisan cheeses prepared by prisoners who were only paid $0.60/day. Critics pointed out that these kinds of wages are not fair trade. 2 BP: A perfect example of how insourcing affects displaced workers, BP had a massive oil spill on the Gulf Coast and exclusively hired inmates to come do the clean up. Though there were plenty of fisherman that were displaced because of the oil spill and in need of work, BP did not extend the opportunity of employment to them and offered no remedy for the issue. 3 McDonalds: This fast-food franchise employs inmates to make a number of items for them, from plastic cutlery to uniforms. The inmates who make the uniforms earn significantly less than those who wear the uniforms, which is already called a starvation wage rather than a minimum wage because it is impossible to live with the small hourly pay. 4 ATT: Over 20 years ago, this well-known and widely-used tech company laid off thousands of union telephone operators and replaced them with prisoners in their call centers in order to increase their profits. ATT has employed them in this same fashion ever since 1993 while paying them only $2 per day. 5 Wal-Mart: This huge company might claim to never exploit prisoners, but just like everything else Wal-Mart does, their method of increasing a profit is shady at best. Nearly everything on their shelves is supplied by prison laborers through third-party companies that place prisoners in prison farms with minimal access to water or food. 6 Aramark: Known for its monopoly over food service throughout the U.S., this corporation also provides food for hundreds of prisons in America. They may be well known but that doesnt mean they dont have their share of issues; a massive food shortage that affected their service to prisons in Kentucky even caused a prison riot in 2009. 7 Victorias Secret: Inmates in South Carolina sew some of the pricey undergarments sold at this lingerie store. In a famous late 90s story, two female prisoners came forward and revealed that they were paid to replace already-sewn garments saying Made in Honduras tags with Made in USA tags. The two inmates were placed in solitary confinement for blowing the whistle on Victorias Secret. If you see a Made in USA tag on something, its likely that it was made in an American prison rather than by citizens who arent incarcerated. While its great that these inmates are learning valuable skills that could help them once theyre released, to say that companies are exploiting these prisoners and making a huge profit at the expense ofall American citizens would be an understatement. What do you think about prison laborers being employed by huge corporations? Are you surprised that some of these companies made the list?Comment your thoughts below and share this article! This article (Made In America: How These 7 Popular Companies Are Exploiting Prisoners And Ruining The Economy) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and Trueselfnews.com. This is a disgusting, outrageous, and shameful practice! Im not going to buy from any of these companies, except that its almost impossible, at least where I live, to avoid buying some things at Wal-Mart. But this issue is important enough that I will continue to seek sources other than Wal-Mart. [M]any of Americas prisons are nothing more than slave labor camps. In many prisons the inmates are employed at slave labor wages, anywhere from 22 cents to a $1.10 and hour. Prisoners are employed making boxes, stickers, license plates, mattresses, canned goods, textiles, road signs, etc., all to be sold on the open market. Their employer, the Federal Government, d.b.a. UNICOR (trade name for Federal Prison Someone is likely to respond: So what! Why shouldnt such criminals, at the very least, be used in this fashion? Why should they deserve decent wages in light of their crimes? That is precisely how the Federal Government wants you to think about it. The arrangement between UNICOR and the prisons is just For more, google free online book Prisons: Shut Them All Down! Shades of the Shawshank Redemption. Something to consider. Not saying it so for every individual in prison, Some who are fathers that may dispense meager earnings, what they can These are human beings still. These people deserve kindness and Boycotting the corporations and the products does not solve the larger The corporations do not care if you boycott. It is fine with them. They The big idea corporations seem to sell here is that due to someone being Understand the big ideas sold long ago. One idea comes from Look around at some big news lately, some even in broad daylight of MSM. Consider what all oil does, effects. How then can any resource be scarce Over populating? Since when do we know nature to abhor a vacuum? Order cannot be extracted from chaos. There is always chaos. There is Control reveals itself as a tool of fear. Fear creates hate and darkness You now see the bigger game. If you doubt light will not be Ben, youre an ignorant asshat. A shill for the corporat -prison complex. Go suck off a cop. Lovely that you may cast aspersions without any knowledge of someone isnt it? That makes you so brave doesnt it? Not knowing someone else but being capable of seeming to annihilate them via words really entitles you, doesnt it? Well it may _seem_ you may annihilate me. I still remain standing and will continue to do so. Your words fail. Your fear fails. You fear me, the unknown. That much is obvious in the _seeming_ harsh _attack_ of me. Have fun attempting your futile and childish hubris upon another. Unfortunately for you, I have exposed your failing and any others will see it. They may not be as kind as me. Have a nice one. Might be time for the populace on this land to stop buying anything (or anything new) and shut down commerce completely. This is the tip of the icebergALL of us are next!except for the 0.001%ers. Lets see uhh I never shop at wallie mart or eat (ugg) fast foods at Mcdonalds. Im clear of doing any business with any of the corporations mentioned (thankfully). Of course if you call other carriers you get a guy in India; not much better! 