Popular U.S. Food Brands Linked to Forced Labor By Prisoners In AP Exposé

Some of America’s most recognizable food brands have achieved their success on the backs of prisoners at corrections facilities throughout the nation.

Article by Ethan Huff, republished with permission from Naturalnews.com

While many of us associate forced labor camps with countries like Russia, prison labor plays a significant role in the journey from farm to table for much of the U.S.’s food supply. The Louisiana State Penitentiary, which was once a Southern slave plantation and is now the country’s biggest maximum-security prison, is supplying big names like Walmart, McDonald’s and Cargill with meat via prison-raised cattle, according to a two-year investigation by the Associated Press.

This isn’t just an isolated case; the AP reports that similar “invisible webs” tie prison labor to hundreds of millions of dollars of agricultural products and other goods sold in the U.S. They report that it is not unusual for prisoners to be sentenced to hard labor, and those who refuse to work could face punishments like solitary confinement or even risk losing parole opportunities.

The AP identifies a number of popular food items that are produced by prisoners, from Ball Park hot dogs to Frosted Flakes cereal, Coca-Cola and Gold Medal flour. Their products can be found in stores like Whole Foods, Target and Kroger. In some cases, they are exported to other countries, including those whose own products have been blocked from entering America because of their use of prison labor.

One prisoner, Willie Ingram, told the AP about his experience picking okra and cotton on the prison’s farm – on the plantation soil where slaves did the same thing decades ago – during his 51 years behind bars in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The penitentiary houses 3,800 men, more than two thirds of whom are black, and they work for free but can later earn somewhere between 2 and 40 cents per hour in some cases.

He explained how armed guards on horseback watched as dehydrated prisoners passed out while working in the fields in triple-digit temperatures.

The AP traced almost $200 million in sales of livestock and farmed goods to businesses from prison labor, although they say this data is incomplete and the real number may be higher.

Prison laborers do not have worker protections

Some corrections officials told the AP that not all prison labor is forced and that it can save taxpayers in some cases, such as when the prisoners are producing the food that is served in their kitchens. Moreover, they say that prisoners are learning useful skills that can help them find employment when they are released and provides them with an important sense of purpose.

However, critics maintain that prison laborers deserve fair pay, more humane treatment, and the option to choose not to work. Many of them do not have protections traditional workers do, such as workers’ compensation and coverage by federal safety standards, nor do they have recourse when subjected to poor working conditions.

The AP spoke to dozens of current and former prisoners who did this type of work after being convicted of crimes ranging from writing bad checks to murder. Some claim being injured on the job, while others were subjected to sexual harassment. Others, like Frank Dwayne Ellington, died on the job. Ellington was sucked inside a machine in a chicken processing plant, and in his family’s legal battle with Koch Foods, the company claimed he wasn’t technically an employee.

AP contacted some of the companies about the links between their supply chains and prison labor, but many of them denied there was a connection. McDonald’s said it would look into it, while General Mills said that it has a policy restricting its suppliers from using forced labor.

Many Americans are not aware of the connection their everyday foods have to prison labor. Although many people are not opposed to the concept of putting prisoners to work in theory, transparency about which brands are relying on this type of labor and the working conditions is lacking.

In addition to working on vast farms, hundreds of prisons around the country have prisoners doing jobs like fish farming, beekeeping, raising livestock, landscaping and tending greenhouses without workers’ protections – and often without pay.

Sources for this article include:

APNews.com

Blacklisted.news

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Is It Time To “Make The Switch”? Let Me Explain…

Is it time to stop supporting Far-Left Woke Companies, Stores and Products?

I’m not big on “boycotts” but I am big on taking back our power and “voting with our dollars”.

Why do we continue to support places like Target when they constantly push the Gay and Trans agenda down our throats and onto our children?

I could give you hundreds of examples, but remember this?

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Or this?

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Just two examples.

Or how about shopping at stores so poorly ran so scared of their customers that they place socks and under behind glass doors with lock and key?

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Are you a customer or a suspected criminal?

Truth be told, the stores are overrun by crime thanks for Far-Left Cities legalizing shoplifting.

Or how about when Gillette told all us men we had "toxic masculinity"?

Yeah, that was charming!

Thanks Gillette!

Of course we all remember Bud Light giving us trans male (or is it trans female, I can never remember which way it goes) Dylan Mulvaney as their new face of the brand?

But that's just the social issues side of things....

How about the products themselves?

Well, I sure hope you didn't put any of this J&J talc powder on your baby:

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And I hope you don't have any of these spices in your kitchen:

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Or any of these baby food pouches:

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Look, I could go on all day, but I think you get the idea.

And as usual, I don't like to just leave you with a problem....that's not what we do here.

So I have a question for you:  Perhaps it's time to break up with these companies?

But what other options are there?

You know I've got you covered!

How about this....

How about shopping from a company that actually likes you!

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A 40-year track record of being proudly America-First, way before President Trump hit the scene in 2015...

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It's time to Make The Switch folks....stop supporting Target and WalMart.

Stop buying products that are hazardous to your health with so many additives and chemicals in them that you can't even pronounce half the label.

You THINK you have a choice between all these companies listed below in the circle, but what most people don't realize is they're all owned by only 11 companies.  

11.

Interesting number.

Will probably be even less than that in the future when these merge even further.

It's an ILLUSION of choice.

The same goes for all your media...

It's just an ILLUSION of different choices, but owned by these 6 companies:

Oh and how do you think they got to be such a great America-First company with such a long track record of success?

A strong founder, full of vision and drive.

While you may have never heard of this company (because they do ZERO advertising), Barack Hussein Obama knew about them!

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As I said, they do zero advertising -- they rely on people like me to spread the word.  Good old word of mouth!

So on top of being the last Family-owned major consumer goods manufacturer not part of the Big-11, comparable or often lower prices, supporting American jobs and families, here's more:

Non-toxic products!

That means no Arsenic, Cadmium, and Lead in their food products!

Which really, if we're being honest, should be the bare minimum for everyone, right?

Stunning I even have to tell you that, but I guess I do!

But it also means no Red Dye 40 or Flouride in the toothpaste or chemicals in the cleaning products, or Deet in the mosquito repellant.

What novel concepts, right?

Oh, and Black Angus beef, pasture raised on hundreds of thousands of acres.

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Grass fed.

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But that's a whole other topic!

Not only do they do zero advertising but it's it's actually "Invite Only".

They only want people on the same mission to join and they're happy to say "no" to the Far-Left Libs!

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Everyone gets a personal, white glove, concierge customer service support to get you access to everything they have.

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