John, when our Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism conducted a recent hearing on prison labor practices, as the chair I had a duty to speak out:

There are close to 1.2 million people incarcerated in state and federal prisons in this country, and today, around 800,000 of them have a job. They produce and process the foods that we eat. They manufacture license plates, traffic signs, uniforms, and furniture with the “Made in America” label. They fight wildfires, repair and maintain roads, and respond to natural disasters.

NBC 10 Philadelphia echoed The Associated Press’ reporting that “Companies such as McDonald’s, KFC, Walmart, Cargill, and Tyson Foods have benefited from the multibillion-dollar industry.”

John, most of us have no idea how slave labor contributes to our nation’s economy, when their daily wages average just 13 to 52 cents per hour.

The legacy is obvious from the very first line of the AP’s two-year investigation:

“ANGOLA, La. (AP) — A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source — a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison.”

Their reporting included accounts of prison workers being hurt or killed on the job while being denied the rights and protections offered to non-incarcerated workers.

Work-release programs that include firefighting, highway garbage pickup, and heavy machinery operation on industrial-sized farms and meat-processing plants have maimed and killed workers who receive little to no training.

“And it’s all legal: A loophole in the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed after the Civil War makes forced labor legal, abolishing slavery except ‘as punishment for a crime.’“ —AP, 5/16/24

Our prisons should reflect the best of who we are. They should reflect our values.

And they should, in my strong opinion, be places that are not just for punishment, but for rehabilitation and for creating roads of redemption.

Shining a light on the injustices of prison labor and legalized slavery is just the start. If we are going to affect real change, then we all need to speak out — including you, John. Add your name to my petition for prison labor reform today.

Our work is the work of bringing this country to live up to the ideals in its founding documents — ideals that have been long pursued but never fully enacted.

But with your support, we can create the momentum to build a more just, loving country. Thanks for joining me in speaking out.

With love and gratitude,

Cory