From The Marshall Project:
Nora worked the fields outside Texas prisons for nearly three years. But she didn’t learn much about tending crops. There weren’t any growing in the empty fields where the women were sent to clear debris and weeds at the edge of the prison property 30 miles west of Waco.
“It was more of taking the workers out and cleaning an area where they work crops — a punishment of sorts,” said Nora, who spoke on the condition that her last name be withheld because she fears retribution. “Not one time do I remember them planting crops.”This article was published in partnership with NBC News.
Across the country, prisoners like Nora harvest cotton, fight fires, fix school buses and even make gavels for judges. According to state and federal prison policies, if they refuse to work they can lose privileges, get sent to solitary confinement or be denied parole. On average, they earn less than a dollar an hour. In five states, they typically make no money at all. Continue reading >>>
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