Another hard-hitting piece from Chris Hedges:
Boycott, Sanction and Divest Corporations that Feed on Prisons
Reading through the list, it looks like I’m going to have to shift my own behavior considerably — to boycott Starbucks, Chevron, Exxon-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon, State Farm Insurance, United Airlines, and UPS.
Geez! These changes may take awhile.
Here’s Hedges’ complete list:
Corporations currently exploiting prison labor include Abbott Laboratories, AT&T, AutoZone, Bank of America, Bayer, Berkshire Hathaway, Cargill, Caterpillar, Chevron, the former Chrysler Group, Costco Wholesale, John Deere, Eddie Bauer, Eli Lilly, ExxonMobil, Fruit of the Loom, GEICO, GlaxoSmithKline, Glaxo Wellcome, Hoffmann-La Roche, International Paper, JanSport, Johnson & Johnson, Kmart, Koch Industries, Mary Kay, McDonald’s, Merck, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Quaker Oats, Sarah Lee, Sears, Shell, Sprint, Starbucks, State Farm Insurance, United Airlines, UPS, Verizon, Victoria’s Secret, Wal-Mart and Wendy’s.
Oh wow, and here’s an article from the Prison Reform Movement’s Weblog that discusses even more companies, plus noting what products prisoners supply.
Prison Labor Exposed
Here’s a title that puts the growing for-profit, private American prison industry in perspective, given that, according to wikipedia:
Approximately 12%-13% of the American population is African-American, but they make up 40% of the almost 2.1 million male inmates in jail or prison (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009).
The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or A New Form of Slavery
Oh, and hey! Here’s another astonishment from Indiana, and BTW: I discovered that Governor Pence did sign a law in 2014 that was proposed in 2013 to increase penalties for marijuana. Here’s a good look at the reasons for and ramifications of this kind of draconian law.
