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Tuesday, December 17, 2024

CRJ322 – Human Trafficking, A Hidden Crime Unit 4 Assignment Push and Pull Factors, November 2024

                                                 Ways to Reduce Prison Labor:  

What We All Can Do as Individuals 

 

Jackie Phillips 

Criminology, Post University 

CRJ322 – Human Trafficking, A Hidden Crime 

Unit 4 Assignment: Push and Pull Factors 

Professor Robert Eddy 

Due: 11:59 pm, on Sunday of Unit 4 

 

Overview: In this week’s assignment, you will be identifying the “push” and “pull” factors relevant to your topic choice. This is the third assignment out of five which will make up your Research Paper.  

Write a paper which identifies the push and pull factors related to your topic for an individual to immigrate or emigrate to or from a country.  

Push and pull factors are a way to describe the reasons people leave their homes and the reasons they choose to arrive somewhere new. In the context of prison labor, some factors that contribute to the exploitation of incarcerated workers include: 

Push factors 

These are factors that may compel people to enter situations with a high risk of exploitation, such as poverty, abuse, or political instability. 

Pull factors 

These are factors that create a market for the exploitation of people, such as the demand for slave labor. 

“Today, more than 76 percent of incarcerated workers surveyed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics say that they are required to work or face additional punishment such as solitary confinement, denial of opportunities to reduce their sentence, and loss of family visitation. They have no right to choose what type of work they do and are subject to arbitrary, discriminatory, and punitive decisions by the prison administrators who select their work assignments.” (No author given, 2022) 

What can be done to reduce these factors?  

The primary issue with prison labor is to increase the safety and security of the workers while they are performing their jobs. I don’t agree that they should receive minimum wage while performing these jobs due to the cost of taking care of them while in prison. However, as human beings they should be in situations that are safe.  

 “Jobs for those incarcerated currently fall into four categories: 

  • facility operation and maintenance (e.g., general janitorial duties, cooking, laundry, grounds maintenance, and repair) 
  • state-owned correctional industries producing goods and services that are sold to other government agencies 
  • public works that operate mostly off prison grounds (e.g., grounds crews and firefighters) 
  • private companies” (Galley, A., 2022) 

 

 Here are some ways to reduce prison labor:  

Reform prison labor by improving working conditions, increasing pay, and eliminating forced and unpaid work. 

“Incarcerated workers are also excluded from key federal labor protections, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and protections provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This exclusion exposes them to hazardous working conditions without minimum wage protections, workplace safety standards, or collective bargaining rights. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, incarcerated workers in California produced over 1.4 million masks and sanitizers. Despite the significance of their work, they were paid only a few cents per hour and denied access to the very protective equipment they produced.” (No author given, 2024)  

Call out companies that use prison labor 

“McDonalds 

Wendy’s 

Walmart 

Starbucks 

Sprint 

Verizon 

Victoria’s Secret 

Fidelty Investments 

JC Penny and KMart 

American Airlines and Avis Car Rental” (Shabazz, R., 2024) 


 

References 

Galley, A., 2022, Urban Institute, Five Ways to Improve Jobs Incarcerated in US Prisons,  https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/five-ways-improve-jobs-people-incarcerated-us-prisons 

 

No author given, 2022, ACLU, Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers, https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/captive-labor-exploitation-of-incarcerated-workers 

 

No author given, 2024, Scholars Strategy Network, Proposition 6: Banning Forced Labor in California State Prisons, https://scholars.org/contribution/proposition-6-banning-forced-labor-california#:~:text=autonomy%20and%20dignity.-,Proposition%206,easing%20financial%20burdens%20on%20families 

 

Shabazz, R., 2024, Malta Justice Initiative, 12 Major Corporations Benefiting from the Prison Industrial Complex, https://maltajusticeinitiative.org/12-major-corporations-benefiting-from-the-prison-industrial-complex-2/ 

 

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