California and Nevada may ban forced prison labor, servitude
SOPHIE AUSTIN and GABE STERN
Associated Press/Report for America
From uniforms to bed sheets to state flags, U.S. prisons have a long history of profiting from prison labor. The Bureau of Prisons, which houses federal inmates, sells products through its company Unicor. Unicor brought in $528 million in 2021 alone.Similarly, the Texas Department of Crimina…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lawmakers in Nevada and California are advancing legislation to remove “involuntary servitude” from their states' constitutions, a push that follows four states' bans on forced labor that passed in ballot measures last fall.
Steven Abujen, a California prison inmate with the Prison Industry Authority, cleans one of the newly installed headstones at the Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery on Oct. 18, 2011, near Folsom, Calif.
An inmate selects the letters and numbers to be used to make a specialty license plate by Prison Industries at Folsom State Prison on May 15, 2012, in Folsom, Calif.
Steven Abujen, a California prison inmate with the Prison Industry Authority, cleans one of the newly installed headstones at the Mormon Island Relocation Cemetery on Oct. 18, 2011, near Folsom, Calif.
An inmate selects the letters and numbers to be used to make a specialty license plate by Prison Industries at Folsom State Prison on May 15, 2012, in Folsom, Calif.
