Prison Labor in Gainesville
Image by EpicTop10Site Accessed 2/1/8/22
Thirteenth Amendment And Prison Labor as a Continuation of Slavery
Thirteenth Amendment Annotated
Section 1
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction
Section 2
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Accessed from: https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-13/
As we can see in the sections above, the 13th Amendment prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except in the case of convicted criminals. This creates a loophole that companies and prisons can exploit to their advantage, forcing prisoners to work for next to nothing.
Florida Prison Statistics
How much do Florida inmates earn from their labor?
Chart taken from the Prison Policy Initiative article: "How Much do Incarcerated People Earn in Each State?" Accessed 2/19/22: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/
This chart from 2017 shows that in Florida, inmates working "regular" prison jobs earned as much as 32 cents per hour and as little as nothing. Jobs in "correctional industries" paid as little as 20 cents and as much as 55 cents.
Gainesville, UF, and Prison Labor
"The University had eight contracts with the Florida Department of Corrections as of 2019. These contracts forced incarcerated individuals, many of whom are people of color, to work with zero compensation under the threat of punishment."
Despite efforts by students and staff to end UF's use of prison labor, the issue still persists. Aramark, UF's official food provider since 1995, is known for its use of prison labor , and yet, " the contract with Aramark was extended until June 2022 because of COVID-19, UF spokesperson Hessy Fernandez wrote in a statement. She did not explain what role COVID-19 played in the university’s decision to extend its contract with Aramark."
Community Resources
*Alachua County Labor Coalition (ACLC)
https://laborcoalition.org/ Phone Number: (352) 375-2832
-ACLC E-mail: info@laborcoalition.org
Mission Statement: "The Alachua County Labor Coalition (ACLC) is composed of individuals, unions, and worker-friendly organizations committed to the economic, environmental, civil, and social rights of working people, their families, and communities, and to the ecological systems that sustain us."
ACLC Office: 235 S Main St #206 Gainesville, Florida 32601
*Just Income GNV
Phone Number: (352) 339-9393
Email: info@jignv.org
Mission Statement: "Just Income GNV is designed and administered by formerly incarcerated people. We know from our own experience that poverty can lead to incarceration and incarceration can lead to poverty. We believe a temporary guaranteed income could stop this revolving door. Our goal is to determine if a guaranteed income can mitigate known barriers to successful reentry and unlock the inherent potential of our justice-impacted neighbors."
"115 justice-impacted people will be randomly selected from our applicant pool to receive $1,000 in the first month and $600 each month for the next eleven months. Payments are unconditional with no strings attached. "
*Community Spring
Phone Number: info@csgnv.org
Email: (352) 363-1259
Mission Statement: "We hire fellows to work together during a nine-month period. They work 20 hours per week at a fair wage ($15 per hour). At the start of each fellowship class, there is an initial orientation to establish the basic framework and expectations for the fellowship, followed by a dynamic, collaborative process of developing the work plan for the class. We want to give our fellows the space and support to identify the most significant problems in their communities and develop the solutions to those problems. To start, we guide conversations between fellows to find a broad area of focus for the class. Examples of focus areas could include access to housing, education, employment, food, public safety, green spaces, or healthcare. With the general focus agreed on, we work with the fellowship class to design and build out a work plan for the class as a whole as well as each individual fellow. As the work moves forward, we monitor and modify the individual and collective work plans and provide strategic guidance and support."