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How Popular Brands Capitalize on Slavery Loophole for Profit
Some brands see “involuntary servitdue” as a golden opportunity
“When you work as a firefighter, they promise to reduce your time behind bars. They dangle that freedom in front of you like a carrot on a stick; they bend your will to theirs.’” — Anonymous, incarcerated in Californi
Earlier this week, many Americans were shocked to learn that thirty percent of Los Angeles fires were fought by inmates. However, since a loophole in the 13th Amendment permits “involuntary servitude” for those convicted of a crime, inmates are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. One example of this would be convict leasing agreements, that allowed companies to profit from predominantly Black. Sadly, many popular brands have continued this tradition in the modern era, capitalizing off the "slavery loophole" for profit. It's disturbing how ubiquitous prison labor has become. Consumers are often unaware of how the sausage is made, so to speak. And this ambiguity preserves the company's reputation. In the early days, people knew sugar and cotton were direct products of slave labor. Now, folks are not so sure.
While working as a server at Oceana, a high-volume French Quarter restaurant in my twenties, I discovered dozens of kitchen employees were inmates at the Orleans parish prison. No one ever formally told the staff about the work release program, but you would quickly learn this by talking to coworkers. A white van would drop them off two blocks away during the day and pick them up in the evening. Some of their loved ones occasionally asked to see them at the side door, bringing children, hoping to catch a few moments with their fathers. Despite working long hours, they earned less than the minimum wage. Those working in the back-of-house were prohibited from serving customers directly. This allowed the prison labor system to remain disguised behind the thin veil of legitimacy. Those who stopped by for a grilled redfish plate or a fried seafood platter were unknowingly part of this broader system of exploitation. In Louisiana, the pay scale for inmates is between 0.04 to $1.00 per hour.
Americans like to envision the nation far removed from the past version of itself, because back then, the…
