Contact: barbara@mechanicalgirl.com
Python Developer and Educator
2025-06-19
If you've eaten at a McDonald's in recent years, you've likely been consuming food processed using slave labor.
I think about the subject of this article a lot:
Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands [Associated Press]
It came up in the context of this video, where a civil rights lawyer talks about the state and private enterprise having a big incentive to imprison people, to use them to provide labor for industry:
https://bsky.app/profile/iamthepaulina.bsky.social/post/3lrdi57lvok2y
Slavery is the whole point of for-profit private prisons. These prisons take advantage of an exception clause in the 13th Amendment that allows involuntary servitude to be used as a punishment for crime.
Hopefully I don't need to spell out why that's bad, but I'll explain it anyway:
Capitalism provides an incentive for putting people in jail. Every company that relies on slave labor to produce its products has an interest in putting people in jail. Every for-profit prison operator makes money when more people are put in jail. Justice doesn't matter - capitalism just wants a cheaper labor force.
It's sick when you realize that fast food restaurants that rely on slave labor are a staple in low-income neighborhoods that are otherwise food deserts, where poverty and high incarceration rates go hand in hand. People are literally paying for their own oppression and don't have much choice in the matter.
But it's not just food processing.
Sprint and Verizon use inmates in their call centers.
Victoria’s Secret uses inmates to sew products.
IBM, Texas Instruments and Dell get circuit boards made by Texas prisoners.
Kmart and J.C. Penney sell jeans made by inmates in Tennessee prisons.
When you see a "Made in America" tag or stamp on a retail product, it might just mean "Made by an Inmate".
And when masked government thugs can kidnap people off the streets with no warrant and no due process, anyone can be shoved into a labor camp.
So when the Trump regime talks about bringing manufacturing back to America, you have to ask yourself if he's planning on a future where inmates are the ones doing the work.
Companies like the GEO Group, CoreCivic, and Palantir sure seem to be counting on it - their stock prices have exploded since Trump took office. They are clearly expecting to make money from both ends - billion dollar government contracts and unethical corporations.
It is in all of their interests to jail as many people as possible. Justice is meaningless when the money is flowing.
These contracts are paid for with tax dollars that you and I provide. We're putting money into the pockets of already rich men so that they can potentially enslave any one of us.
Pay attention - the regime is targeting brown people now, but anyone could be next.
ICE and the Trump regime are bullies, looking for ways to make the American people pay, looking for revenge on anyone who doesn't agree with them. They will find the flimsiest of pretexts - they've already shown a willingness to arrest even government officials with no cause, so what makes you think they won't come for you when they run out of other scapegoats?
The private prison companies and (unethical corporations) are certainly hoping you won't notice until it's too late.
What can you do?
Read some of the articles cited below.
Divest from companies using prison labor whenever you can.
Educate yourself a little about food manufacturers so that when you shop for groceries, you can make more ethical choices.
Avoid fast food restaurants like McDonald's and Wendy's - as an added bonus, your arteries will thank you.
And, as always, contact your congressmembers. Calls are more effective, but you can also visit endtheexception.com for a form that lets you do it in just a few clicks.
Additional resources:
Contact: barbara@mechanicalgirl.com