In the 1900’s a group of convicts were forced to labor at tasks such as construction, ditch digging, or farming while chained together. These people were known as chain gangs. Chain gangs minimized the cost of guarding prisoners, but exposed prisoners to painful ulcers, and dangerous infections around their ankles from the heavy chains. If one person stepped the wrong way it could lead the whole group to a fall. Chain gangs eventually gave way to work gangs which are what we have today. Prisoners who work without being chained up. Prison labor has been used throughout jails and prisons for many years. It is when prisoners are forced to work by doing manual labor. The work may be light or hard depending on the context of their job. Prison labor has had many consequences.
One example is The deep Horizon BP spill. Some consequences were environmental and health related. There is evidence to show how there is a problem with BP hiring prison labor to clean up the oil spill. It provides information that shows how prisoners do not have any rights, and they can not complain about inhaling fumes from oil-slicked and dispersant chemicals for 12 hours a day, or report any abuses on the part of their employers due to BP’s “gag order”. Prisoners can not refuse to work in these conditions they can lose ‘good time’. Louisiana has the highest percentage of their population in prison and they are using this population as slave labor for BP. An important issue to point out is after these prisoners are exposed to these toxic fumes, how they get treated.
California is also using prison labor to put out wildfires. The inmates have little to no training and they do not have the right equipment to put out these huge fires. They were earning $2.90 per hour, they work brutal 24 hour shifts, and they risked their lives. They are inhaling toxic fumes and when the prisoners return to the facility they do not receive the correct medical care. The only reason these inmates do this is to potentially get their criminal charges removed. These are examples of prison labor and how environmental issues can affect the people in prisons.