A Hidden Workforce: Prison Labor, Human Rights, and the Legacy of Slavery
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Description
The passage of the 13th Amendment following the American Civil War abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, but it included a crucial exception: “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” This exception allowed southern governments to institute an early version of prison labor called convict leasing. Black Americans arrested for minor offenses, once imprisoned, were effectively purchased from state and local governments by individuals and companies looking to continue using cheap labor. This allowed individuals and companies to keep slavery in action. Though the practice of convict leasing ended in the mid-20th century, its infamous traits can still be seen in today’s incarceration system.
Today, the majority of incarcerated workers in the US, who are disproportionately Black and people of color, are often required to work or face retaliation such as solitary confinement, denial of opportunities to reduce their sentence, and loss of family visitation. They work jobs that might pay pennies on the hour, if they are paid at all, and are often not protected by labor laws. Many work in dangerous conditions. At the same time, some find deep purpose in their work behind bars, an opportunity to build skills, and support in making a successful transition to life after incarceration. In this first part of a two part series, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program will explore the history and conditions of work for incarcerated people and ideas for creating more humane and dignified work for those behind bars. Our second conversation will explore the opportunities and challenges of work for returning citizens after they have been released from incarceration.
Work Behind and Beyond Bars: Improving Job Quality During and After Incarceration
The US currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with over 2 million people in jails and prisons, including over 1.2 million in prisons. Many prisoners will work while incarcerated, producing billions of dollars of goods and services and often contributing significantly to the operation of the facility in which they reside. Many will be forced to work without choice and be punished if they refuse. They will work for no or very minimal pay, and sometimes labor in dangerous conditions. While incarcerated, they will not be protected by some labor laws like other workers. At the same time, many will find deep meaning and purpose in the work they do behind bars, and some may find through their work a path to opportunity once released.
Even those fortunate enough to be released from incarceration will find a new set of barriers as they attempt to resettle into society, including discrimination, restrictions on the types of jobs they are able to hold, and challenges working while under house arrest or monitoring. These conditions inside and outside of prison highlight the divide of a system that promises rehabilitation and redemption, but too often delivers only punishment and condemnation. In this two-part discussion series, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, we’ll explore the history and conditions of work for people who are incarcerated, both before and after release, and ideas for creating systems and policies that provide people with safe and dignified work.
Speakers
Andrea Armstrong
Dr. Norman C. Francis Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law;
Founder, IncarcerationTransparency.org
Andrea Armstrong is the Dr. Norman C. Francis Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where she teaches incarceration law, constitutional law, criminal procedure, and race and the law. A 2023 MacArthur Fellow, she founded IncarcerationTransparency.org, a database and website that documents and memorializes deaths behind bars in Louisiana and supports similar efforts across the US. Her research, which has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Stanford Law & Policy Review, and others, focuses on the intersection of race and incarceration conditions, public oversight of detention facilities, and carceral mortality, health care, and labor. Armstrong previously litigated prisoners’ rights issues as a Thomas Emerson Fellow with David Rosen and Associates and was a research associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice.
Anthony Cantillo
Deputy Commissioner,
Maine Department of Corrections
Anthony Cantillo serves as the Deputy Commissioner for the Maine Department of Corrections. Deputy Commissioner Cantillo held previous roles as the Warden for the Maine Correctional Center and Deputy Warden at the Maine State Prison. Deputy Commissioner Cantillo graduated from the University of Southern Maine’s School of Social Work.
Fred Redmond
Secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO
Fredrick D. Redmond is the secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. On June 13, 2022, he was unanimously elected to the position as the highest ranking African American officer in the history of America’s labor movement. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond was first elected to this position by the AFL-CIO Executive Council on Aug. 20, 2021. He filled the vacancy of the executive vice president position from March to June 2022. He had previously served on the federation’s Executive Council since 2008.
Redmond’s path to the federation’s second-highest office began in 1973, when he went to work at Reynolds Metals Co. in Chicago and became a member of the United Steelworkers (USW). He was active in his local union almost immediately, serving as shop steward and eventually vice president. He served three terms as local president. In 1996, Redmond joined the USW staff, working with local unions in the Chicago area before accepting a position at the international union’s headquarters in Pittsburgh in 1998. For decades, Redmond served the USW in various staff and leadership roles, assisting local unions, developing and conducting training programs, and bargaining contracts. As international vice president for human affairs, a position to which he was first elected to in 2006, Redmond oversaw the union’s Civil and Human Rights Department and worked with USW allies across the country in responding to attacks on voting rights and in combating economic inequality.
Redmond has spent his entire life fighting for racial justice in the workplace and throughout our communities. In 2016, he was appointed to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Advisory Commission on African American Affairs, and in 2020, Redmond was tapped to chair the AFL-CIO Task Force on Racial Justice, a body focused on taking concrete action to address America’s long history of racism and police violence against Black people. Redmond has served on the board of directors of Working America, the TransAfrica Forum, the Workers Defense League, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Interfaith Worker Justice and, since 2007, has served as chair of the board of directors of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. In 2021, Redmond was elected president of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, a prestigious international post.
Terrance Winn
Prison reform advocate;
Founder and director of Priorities, Intentions, Practical Exchanges (PIPES)
Terrance Winn is a highly respected prison reform advocate and the founder and director of Priorities, Intentions, Practical Exchanges, an organization that advocates for criminal justice reform and supports current and formerly incarcerated people in reaching their full potential. Winn has testified about his experience in the Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola Prison) before the United States Senate during a hearing on inmate working conditions and before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as part of a Southern Poverty Law Center delegation.
Moderator
Margie Mason
Investigative Reporter,
The Associated Press
Margie Mason is an investigative reporter at The Associated Press who spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent. Her work focuses on social justice issues and human rights abuses. She was part of a team that won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a series of stories about slavery in Southeast Asia’s fishing industry, resulting in more than 2,000 men being freed and repatriated. She has also exposed labor abuses in the palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia, ranging from slavery and child labor to rape in the fields.
In the U.S., she has reported extensively on prison labor and its hidden path to some of the world’s largest food companies and brands. Her work has led to the freeing of a Minnesota man from prison, the seizure of imported goods at the U.S. border, arrests, convictions and laws being changed.
Opportunity in America
Opportunity in America, an event series hosted by the Economic Opportunities Program, considers the changing landscape of economic opportunity in the US and implications for individuals, families, and communities across the country. The series highlights the ways in which issues of race, gender, and place exacerbate our economic divides, and ideas and innovations with potential to address these challenges and broaden access to quality opportunity.
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