Land Of The Free?

In my local Tesco store, they sell jeans for £4. Not particularly nice jeans but they seem popular in these financially challenging times. I'm not privy to how much Tesco pay for these jeans or where they come from, but they obviously pay the distributor less than £4 per pair in order to make a profit, and the distributor pays the factory and the factory pays the jeans makers who by the time the money gets to them, and everyone else has taken a slice of the £4, must be paid a pittance to make the jeans in the first place.
There have been many cases of big name stores and companies being rightly condemned for using slave labour and making huge profits but a comment on a BBC programme about American prisons had me doing some research.
There are approximately 2 million inmates in state, federal and private prisons throughout the USA.
According to California Prison Focus, 'no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens.'
The figures show that the United States has locked up more people than any other country, half a million more than China, which has a population five times greater than the U.S. The United States holds 25% of the world's prison population, but only 5% of the world's people.
So why has America got such a high prison population?
Are Americans just more criminally minded, the police more vigilant or is the justice system just more geared towards jailing offenders?
Whatever the reason why, the prison industry is one of the few areas in the economy doing well during the recession.
There are over 100 private prisons in the USA, the largest provider is Corrections Corporation of America who run 66 correctional facilities in 19 states.
CCA's 2010 Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Financial Results shows 'Total management revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010 increased 3.6% to $430.8 million from $415.8 million during the prior year period, primarily driven by a 4.3% increase in average daily inmate populations'.
Revenue up by $15 million in one quarter but these are good times for CCA who 'during 2011, we expect to invest approximately $113.0 million to $128.0 million in capital expenditures, consisting of approximately $63.0 million to $73.0 million in on-going prison construction and expenditures related to potential land acquisitions'. Big money in running prisons obviously but how do they make there money?
According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens.
Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people'.
So many prisoners create a large workforce and the products made by American inmates are sold through UNICOR who boast on their website 'Made in the USA products and services, supporting domestic jobs and our Nation’s economy'.
So the likes of UNICOR and CCA are making tens of millions from products made by American inmates and buyers get cheap products so everybody wins. Everyone except the prisoners who make 28 cents to 66 cents per hour. The average minimum wage in America is $7.75.
Slave labour? The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution 'officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime'.
Except as punishment for a crime, so it's legal and the more prisoners there are the more products are made and more profits for the private prison providers who are spending tens of millions building more facilities to house citizens of a nation that already imprisons more people than any other country.
Land of the Free?