How Dairy Milked by Prisoners Ends Up on Whole Foods Shelves

[ksen]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...soners-ends-up-on-whole-foods-shelves/372937/

For many shoppers, the fancy cheese section at Whole Foods evokes images of sweet little farms on hillsides, perhaps run by a family who has been in the same spot for generations. It does not, in all likelihood, make shoppers think about prison.

But a new piece in Fortune reports that Colorado Correctional Industries (CCi) is providing the labor for a host of products that goes beyond stereotypical prisoner products (license plates and office furniture) and includes the goat milk used by Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, carried by Whole Foods. According to Jennifer Alsever, six inmates at the Skyline Correctional Center in Canon City milk 1,000 goats twice a day. They are paid a base rate of 60 cents per day but "most prisoners earn $300 to $400 a month with incentives." The dairy is then transported to another facility, where non-inmate employees turn it into cheese.

I don't mind the idea of prisoners being able to work while they serve out their sentences. However, $0.60 a day!? I wonder how much the businesses are paying for this service? Is there any reason why the prisoners shouldn't get paid at least the federal minimum wage?

 

[dismal]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...soners-ends-up-on-whole-foods-shelves/372937/

For many shoppers, the fancy cheese section at Whole Foods evokes images of sweet little farms on hillsides, perhaps run by a family who has been in the same spot for generations. It does not, in all likelihood, make shoppers think about prison.

But a new piece in Fortune reports that Colorado Correctional Industries (CCi) is providing the labor for a host of products that goes beyond stereotypical prisoner products (license plates and office furniture) and includes the goat milk used by Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, carried by Whole Foods. According to Jennifer Alsever, six inmates at the Skyline Correctional Center in Canon City milk 1,000 goats twice a day. They are paid a base rate of 60 cents per day but "most prisoners earn $300 to $400 a month with incentives." The dairy is then transported to another facility, where non-inmate employees turn it into cheese.

I don't mind the idea of prisoners being able to work while they serve out their sentences. However, $0.60 a day!? I wonder how much the businesses are paying for this service? Is there any reason why the prisoners shouldn't get paid at least the federal minimum wage?

And then charge them back for room and board?

Methinks prisoners may cost a bit more to house than the massive profits their labor generates for the state.

 

[ksen]

How is this different than how slavemasters treated their slave again?

It all makes sense to me now about why we incarcerate so many black people.

 

[prideandfall]

And then charge them back for room and board?

Methinks prisoners may cost a bit more to house than the massive profits their labor generates for the state.

hm... reform the justice system so that less people get put in prison for absolutely no good reason, or institute a policy of slave labor.
reform the justice system so that less people get put in prison for absolutely no good reason, or institute a policy of slave labor....
decisions, decisions.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...soners-ends-up-on-whole-foods-shelves/372937/

For many shoppers, the fancy cheese section at Whole Foods evokes images of sweet little farms on hillsides, perhaps run by a family who has been in the same spot for generations. It does not, in all likelihood, make shoppers think about prison.

But a new piece in Fortune reports that Colorado Correctional Industries (CCi) is providing the labor for a host of products that goes beyond stereotypical prisoner products (license plates and office furniture) and includes the goat milk used by Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, carried by Whole Foods. According to Jennifer Alsever, six inmates at the Skyline Correctional Center in Canon City milk 1,000 goats twice a day. They are paid a base rate of 60 cents per day but "most prisoners earn $300 to $400 a month with incentives." The dairy is then transported to another facility, where non-inmate employees turn it into cheese.

I don't mind the idea of prisoners being able to work while they serve out their sentences. However, $0.60 a day!? I wonder how much the businesses are paying for this service? Is there any reason why the prisoners shouldn't get paid at least the federal minimum wage?

And then charge them back for room and board?

I think the situation is a tad bit more problematic.

Firstly, it is good to have inmates working, though they are being paid pretty lowly by a company that is charging a decent markup if they sell to Whole Foods. And $0.60 a day, but up to $400 a month? In what world do incentives pay 2000% base pay? Work is good, though. The question remains should they be financially compensated for the labor or should there be another method of compensation.

I wonder what is CCi getting paid? The company seems to be double dipping, being paid to house the prisoners and then leasing off their labor? That seems grossly unethical, if they are a separate corporation.

Methinks prisoners may cost a bit more to house than the massive profits their labor generates for the state.

Unless I am mistaken, this isn't a state, this is a corporation. They are getting paid by the State (and Feds?) to house the prisoners already. So while this may not be at the level of chain gangs, there could be very serious issues involved here.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Upon further review, looks like CCI is involved with the state, though funds itself. Made over $20 million in profit in 2013.

 

[dismal]

Methinks prisoners may cost a bit more to house than the massive profits their labor generates for the state.

Unless I am mistaken, this isn't a state, this is a corporation. They are getting paid by the State (and Feds?) to house the prisoners already. So while this may not be at the level of chain gangs, there could be very serious issues involved here.

So, the point is still the same. They are costing the taxpayers a lot of money. If the state is reasonably competent (yes, I know, that's a big "if") any profits from the labor should offset the rate the state is charged.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

How is this different than how slavemasters treated their slave again?

It all makes sense to me now about why we incarcerate so many black people.

I've been saying that for years. It's time to end the drug war.

 

[arkirk]

How is this different than how slavemasters treated their slave again?

It all makes sense to me now about why we incarcerate so many black people.

I've been saying that for years. It's time to end the drug war.

So Whole Foods ( notorious for high prices) is relying on slave labor in its supply chain. If a prisoner is bad enough to press into slave labor. how can you be trusting of something like milk he gets from the goats? I can't afford Whole Foods anyway and probably would never buy goat cheese anyway, but I do think it is a shame of our country that outfits like CCA is allowed to farm out people it is paid to maintain in prison. It IS SLAVERY, you know...outright slavery!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

How is this different than how slavemasters treated their slave again?

It all makes sense to me now about why we incarcerate so many black people.

I've been saying that for years. It's time to end the drug war.

So Whole Foods ( notorious for high prices) is relying on slave labor in its supply chain. If a prisoner is bad enough to press into slave labor. how can you be trusting of something like milk he gets from the goats? I can't afford Whole Foods anyway and probably would never buy goat cheese anyway, but I do think it is a shame of our country that outfits like CCA is allowed to farm out people it is paid to maintain in prison. It IS SLAVERY, you know...outright slavery!

This appears to be gray. They aren't paying for the prisoners imprisonment, to my knowledge. They are a corporation that sends convicts to work to try and reduce recidivism rates. They must fund themselves and must repay any training from the prisons back to the state.

The system is certainly open to corruption and there may be a question about where excess profits go. So it is hard to tell whether this is a self funding system that is actually working to keep convicts from coming back to prison, or whether people lobbied with Colorado to "spin-off" a cheap labor camp from the Colorado Correctional system. IE, the state pays for the expenses of the labor and the CCi leaves with the profits.

 

[Nexus]

They are a corporation that sends convicts to work to try and reduce recidivism rates.

I don't know about this particular corp but there are cases of others lobbying to increase incarceration quotas to profit their business model. Not to mention the scandals when they bribe judges to incarcerate more harshly.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

They are a corporation that sends convicts to work to try and reduce recidivism rates.

I don't know about this particular corp but there are cases of others lobbying to increase incarceration quotas to profit their business model. Not to mention the scandals when they bribe judges to incarcerate more harshly.

Agreed. It is a potentially dangerous system. It can be great and it can be abused. I have no idea what oversight there is for this company. They are a State Government spin-off organization.

 

[ksen]

It's ok, I'm sure some pol's cousin is keeping an eagle eye on them.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Even at an incentivized $2.50 an hour, this is wrong, if that is what the company is truly paying out and I have no reason to think otherwise. In Oregon at the Prison Blues denim factory, they seem to do it right.

Prison Blues is the most highly sought job at the prison; inmates earn a prevailing industry wage, they keep around 20% of what they earn which equals to about $120 - $150 a month after paying taxes, with bonus incentives for quality and productivity. Like the private sector, inmates are expected to pay their own way with their earnings. Eighty percent is withheld from their earnings to pay for their own incarceration costs, victim restitution, family support, and state and federal wage taxes. This significantly reduces the burden on taxpayers. It costs an average of $22,400 per year to provide for an inmate's care. Inmates can use the rest of their earnings for voluntary family support, to buy items at the prison canteen, or for deposit in a savings account available to them upon their release. An inmate can accumulate a decent nest egg after working in the program over a number of years. Another incentive program allows workers to earn " Blues Bucks " , created by our Factory management team. A worker can earn a bonus to " purchase " the clothing he is producing, based on his quality of work each month.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Even at an incentivized $2.50 an hour, this is wrong, if that is what the company is truly paying out and I have no reason to think otherwise. In Oregon at the Prison Blues denim factory, they seem to do it right.

Prison Blues is the most highly sought job at the prison; inmates earn a prevailing industry wage, they keep around 20% of what they earn which equals to about $120 - $150 a month after paying taxes, with bonus incentives for quality and productivity. Like the private sector, inmates are expected to pay their own way with their earnings. Eighty percent is withheld from their earnings to pay for their own incarceration costs, victim restitution, family support, and state and federal wage taxes. This significantly reduces the burden on taxpayers. It costs an average of $22,400 per year to provide for an inmate's care. Inmates can use the rest of their earnings for voluntary family support, to buy items at the prison canteen, or for deposit in a savings account available to them upon their release. An inmate can accumulate a decent nest egg after working in the program over a number of years. Another incentive program allows workers to earn " Blues Bucks " , created by our Factory management team. A worker can earn a bonus to " purchase " the clothing he is producing, based on his quality of work each month.

The company getting the services has to be paying more. The $0.60 an hour can possibly pay for the overhead involved in running the shop.

It's ok, I'm sure some pol's cousin is keeping an eagle eye on them.

Well I'm relieved now.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

How on earth did government decide private for profit prisons were a good idea? And how on earth does the public tolerate that?

That is even nuttier than your private for profit health insurance system. Some essential functions of society need to be government run.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

I don't know how the government decided that contracted for profit prisons are a good idea. I think that contracted prisons, for profit or even non-profit, are a very bad idea.

Private prisons would be even worse because they would have non-government clients.

 

[dismal]

How on earth did government decide private for profit prisons were a good idea? And how on earth does the public tolerate that?

That is even nuttier than your private for profit health insurance system. Some essential functions of society need to be government run.

Why does a prison need to be government run?

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

How on earth did government decide private for profit prisons were a good idea? And how on earth does the public tolerate that?

That is even nuttier than your private for profit health insurance system. Some essential functions of society need to be government run.

Why does a prison need to be government run?

Because it is 100% a government function. I don't believe in the government contracting out for the services it is supposed to provide. I also don't believe in the government providing any services, but if the government does provide them then the government should be the one that provides them.

 

[braces_for_impact]

They are a corporation that sends convicts to work to try and reduce recidivism rates.

I don't know about this particular corp but there are cases of others lobbying to increase incarceration quotas to profit their business model. Not to mention the scandals when they bribe judges to incarcerate more harshly.

Sometimes you find that the judge sits on the board of the very corporation that runs the prison. No conflict of interest there...