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 Home Our WorkCampaigns & ProjectsPrison Labor
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Click here to read the full exposé report on the prison recycling industry
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CAPTIVE PRISON LABOR EXPOSED TO TOXIC CHEMICALS
Electronics "Recycling" in the Federal Prison System
Imagine wondering if your nagging cough, the cuts that won't heal and the strange rashes on your body have something to do with the work you are forced to do in a federal prison. Everyday U.S. prison inmates smash computer monitors without adequate protection from the glass or a respirator to keep the toxic dust from entering their lungs. A growing number of prison inmates and guards are expressing fears for their health and safety in electronics recycling factories run by UNICOR, also known as the "Federal Prison Industries." UNICOR is a controversial business venture: a government corporation operated under the Department of Justice that uses captive prison labor in a range of industries, including the manufacturing of furniture and textiles and the dismantling e-waste.
Read our report: Toxic Sweatshops: How UNICOR Prison Recycling Harms Workers, Communities, the Environment, and the Recycling Industry.
This expose gives background on the controversial government program UNICOR and provides direct insight from prisoners working on the inside.
In the March 2007 issue of Prison Legal News, author Aaron Shuman, with the Prison Activist Resource Center, details the Federal Prison Industries Electronics Program and exposes the fraud and mismanagement within it. Click here to read the article from Prison Legal News.
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Firefighters respond to a fire at the UNICOR Facility at Atwater Prison in Atwater, California in November of 2003. The fire released the toxic chemicals found in electronic waste into the surrounding communites. It was the second fire at the facility in 5 years. | |
UNICOR Uses Government Subsidies for Profit & Undercuts Responsible Business
UNICOR depends on taxpayer support for a number of subsidies such as land and buildings, and is not bound by the same labor, safety, minimum wage and environmental standards and oversight as the private recyclers it competes with. Despite the wide range of subsidies and breaks, UNICOR still pays its inmate laborers as little as 25 cents to $1.25 an hour! UNICOR also enjoys privileged access to government contracts and offers an unsafe, but cheap, alternative to responsible recycling. The more e-waste the U.S. government directs to the UNICOR system, the less the government is supporting responsible recyclers that use environmentally safe methods and respect workers’ rights, health and safety.
Prisoners Have No Protections Against Health Hazards
Under federal law, prisoners are not considered employees, and have no right to organize and no right to participate in decisions that effect their health and safety. Unlike any private company in the U.S., UNICOR facilities can bar unannounced inspections by regulators like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This gives UNICOR time to clean up its abuses and escape detection and fines. Learn more about the toxics in electronics.
UNICOR Exposes Prisoners and Guards to Toxic Chemicals
In the summer of 2005, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) conceded that prisoners and staff in at least three UNICOR Recycling factories—at Atwater, California; Elkton, Ohio; and Texarkana, Texas—had been exposed to toxics but claimed the problems had been caught and fixed. In April 2006, Special Counsel Scott Bloch found the BOP’s conclusions “unreasonable” and backed the call of Leroy Smith, a whistleblower and former health and safety manager at Atwater, for an independent investigation without BOP influence. One month later, the Department of Justice announced an audit into conditions at all UNICOR Recycling factories. Meanwhile, UNICOR continues to recycle electronics and compete for new business, advertising itself as a green, “environmental[ly] sensitive” corporation… and the complaints from prisoners and staff continue to rise.
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Organizers from the Computer TakeBack Campaign protested Dell's use of prison labor in the summer of 2003. Dell no longer contracts with the prison industry to recycle its e-waste. | |
Local Neighborhoods are Polluted and Families Exposed
Toxic chemicals don’t just stay on the factory floor. Staff employees may take contaminants from the dust in these facilities, many of them reproductive toxins and neurotoxins, home with them on their clothes and skin, thus subjecting their families to exposure. The Atwater facility in central California burned down in 2003 releasing the toxic fumes of electronic waste into local air and water. Reports of UNICOR dumping materials used in clean-up—such as mop heads and mop water—in county landfills and sewage are also troubling.
Many Local Recyclers Secretly Send Your E-Waste to UNICOR
Many well meaning consumers might be surprised to learn that some of your “recycled” e-waste actually gets sent to prisons. UNICOR doesn’t say who uses their services, some local recycling collectors do not disclose that they are use UNICOR, and some local collection programs may be using UNICOR labor without knowing it! Click Here to find a responsible recycler in your area.
Take it Back, Make it Clean, Recycle Responsibly!
We can also protect inmates, recycling workers and neighborhoods by supporting policy that ensures a safe destination for all electronic products. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requires electronics companies to take responsibility for the effects of their products, from the materials used in the production to their disposal. EPR is a solution that pushes companies to eliminate toxins from their products and production facilities, to take their products back after consumers are done with them and to reuse the materials from their recycling. This helps protect workers and the environment through the entire lifespan of an electronic product. Some companies have already committed to an EPR approach and offer to take back your computers and other electronic products. Click Here to go to the Computer TakeBack Campaign. | | | |
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Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition : 760 N. First Street San Jose, CA 95112 : Phone: +1 408-287-6707 : Fax: +1 408-287-6771 : svtc@svtc.org
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