Kirah Pringle

Profesor Kretzer

English 2

15 March 2019

Annotated Bibliography

In my essay, I will try to answer if the prison system in the United States has become less

focused on prisoner reformation and more focused on profiting from the labor work that the

inmates provide. I have a special focus on how the prison system is affecting minorities by doing

so. I would like to know how the prison industry is actually receiving these profits, why they

need prison labor, and how actual prisoners are being affected, if at all.

Are American prisoners modern day slaves? - BBC. Youtube, BBC, Oct 10, 2018,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZygf-nqpU

Posted on October 11, 2018, Roger Ross investigates how the government and private

companies are benefiting from the labor that prisoners are forced to do with little to no pay

across the country in the video “Are American prisoners modern day slaves?” from the BBC

Youtube channel. In the video, Ross talks to a superintendent and informs his audience that the

majority of road signs are created for the government by prisoners who are paid less than .70

cents an hour for their work. This blatantly shows how prisoners are essentially slaves to the

state and are getting paid way below minimum wage to do “favors” for the government. Another

point that Ross shares is that not only are the prisoners doing this free work for the government,

but they are also running every job imaginable in the institution besides being guards. This

ability to use prisoners for free to run the prison saves the institution hundreds of millions of
dollars. He also shares that private companies such as Whole Foods and Starbucks have used

prisoners for cheap labor to benefit their companies.

The writer's purpose of creating this video and investigating this story was to inform his

audience about the injustices that are happening within the prison system, in regards to how they

are being used as slaves. The person who investigated was Roger Ross who establishes his

credibility because he has done other investigative short films that have won an Academy

Award. I know that this author has credible and correct information because he shows the

interviews directly and even goes to the length to not cut out a part that doesn’t really fit the

story. Also, he reports for BBC which is a reputable source to get information from.

I will use this source in my research paper because I believe that it address a lot of the

information that could be used to back up my claim. In the video, it also provides some good

statistics that I could put into my evidence and also interviews reputable people.

Burris-Kitchen, Deborah, and Paul Burris. “From Slavery to Prisons: A Historical

Delineation of the Criminalization of African Americans.” Journal of Global Intelligence

& Policy, vol. 4, no. 5, June 2011, pp. 1–16. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=a9h&AN=66180405&site=ehost-live.

On June 1, 2011, Deborah Burris-Kitchen and Paul Burris wrote the article “From

Slavery to Prisons: A Historical Delineation of the Criminalization of African Americans” and

wrote about how the effects of slavery are still impacting the amount of African Americans that

are getting incarcerated. In this article, the authors take in consideration each phase of american

history that had to do with African Americans until current day to show the connections. They
talk about how the reconstruction era, plessy v ferguson, segregation, jim crow laws and more

have had an impact on the criminalization of african americans. It comes full circle when they

apply it to the prison systems in America.

Both of the authors had a purpose to write this to inform and educate just how the history

of slavery is still impactful on the life of african american people. They are trying to show that

just because slavery ended doesn’t mean that its not being perpetrated in other ways. Deborah

Burris Kitchen is credible because she has a PHD in Sociology and also teaches in the

Behavioral Science Department of the University of LaVerne.

I will use this source in my paper because it address the part of my claim that talks about

how prisons are negatively affecting poor people and people of color. I think this source provides

a lot of details of different time periods and I will be able to show the readers how this isn’t

something that just happened overnight, but rather something that has been in the making.

Peláez, Vicky. “The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of

Slavery?” Global Research, 24 Feb. 2019, www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-

the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289.

Vicky Pelaez, a peruvian journalist, posted “The Prison Industry in the United States: Big

Business or a New Form of Slavery” on February 24, 2019 in hopes of shedding light on the fact

that private prisons are trying to continue to increase the amount of large inmates in the system

to benefit their finances. In this article, Pelaez explains to the audience just how much private

prisons and corporations are benefitting from the amount of prisoners at their institutions and due

to this, the system tries to put more in more people in so that they receive even more profit. She

mentions something interesting about how companies that have investments in work made for
Third World labor are being replaced by prison labor in the United States instead. Private prisons

try to import inmates with longer sentencing so that they can get free labor.

The writer's purpose for this article was to open people's eyes to what is going on behind

the scenes of these prison systems. She was also trying to show immorality in private prisons and

also the private companies that use the free labor. The writer, Vicky Pelaez establishes her

credibility because of the site she was posted on. Global research is a trustworthy place to get

information.

I will use this source in my research paper because I think that it has a lot of good points

and also more focus on the private prison aspects of my research topic. I think the it provides

more details about how exactly private corporations and prisons are receiving profit from

prisoners free labor.

Sawyer, Wendy. “How Much Do Incarcerated People Earn in Each State?” Prison Policy

Initiative, Prison Policy Initiative, 10 Apr. 2017, www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/04/10/wages/.

On April 10, 2017, Wendy Sawyer posted an article called “How much do incarcerated

people earn in each state?” on the Prison Policy Initiative. In this article, it shows how much

each state pays for prison labor work as well as the averages. Also, after providing the statistics it

starts to talk about how prisoners still have to pay for things like court fines, savings accounts,

court costs, family support, and items sold inside the prison to inmates. The article points out that

if the inmates have no savings how are they supposed to survive after they get released. Once,

again the cycle continues.

The writer's purpose of this article was to share statistics about how much prisoners are

getting paid for their work and then providing commentary over the low wages and their effects.
The author is Wendy Sawyer and she is credible because she has a Master’s in Criminal Justice

from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s in Afro-American Studies from the University of

Massachusetts.

I will use this in my research paper because it has facts over the amount of money

prisoners are getting paid and also goes into detail that these wages are even less due to other

deductions. I think this while help develop ethos because it is statistics and it will help me

backup my claim that inmates are basically being used as slaves.

Schwartzapfel, Beth. “Taking Freedom: Modern-Day Slavery in America's Prison

Workforce.” Pacific Standard, Tempest, 12 Apr. 2018, psmag.com/social-justice/taking-

freedom-modern-day-slavery.

“Taking Freedom: Modern-Day Slavery in America’s Prison Workforce” written by Beth

Schwartzapfel was posted on April 12, 2018 and takes into account personal stories of people

who have been negatively affected by prison labor. In this article, it talks about how many people

who have gone to prison are the primary “breadwinners” for their families and aren’t getting

enough money to support them. It also mentions how they will have to pay court, booking, and

room and board fees which can get up to $2540 for the average prisoner. So, they would are

already be going out into the world with debt. Since they are given jobs that save the prison

industry millions like cooking, cleaning, and fixing things at the prison, when they get out they

are not only left with barely any money with debt, but also no real job skills to help them out.

Because of this, many who get out are sent back because they continue to do crimes to make

ends meet or most of the time they go back because they can’t pay back their debts.
 The writer's purpose of this article was to show how this problem is affecting real life

people and how much of a struggle it is for prisoners working these jobs with little pay. I think

that the writer also wanted to inspire people to want to change the laws around prison labor. The

author is Beth Schwartzapfel, who establishes her credibility because in 2016 she was awarded

John Jay College/H.F. Guggenheim Prize for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting. This

source is reliable because it was reprinted with permission of Schwartzapfel’s work.

I will use this source in my paper because it allows me to provide stories that are personal

and will focus on the emotion of the research. It will show that this isn’t just a topic to discuss,

but one that is affecting real people in real time. I think that it outlines a lot of the struggles that

these people are going through and will be able to put the readers in someone else's shoes.

Talks, TEDx, director. The Surprising Reason Our Correctional System Doesn't Work .

YouTube, YouTube, 13 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmvrBGmu9k4&t=2s.

On September 13 2017, Brandon W. Mathews spoke on the topic titled “The surprising

reason our correctional system doesn't work” on the Tedx Talks youtube channel. In this video,

Mathews discusses why the prison system isn’t working and how it is only focusing on the

punishment aspect of prison, when in reality there should be more rehabilitation. This would

only be available for prisoners who have committed nonviolent crimes in order for this to re-

enter the world better than they were before. He also includes the fact that the return to prison

rate in the U.S is more than half and he compares to the way Norway operates which has a return

rate that is 20%.

I think the speaker's purpose was to share with the audience that there is another way to

approach criminalization besides just using punishment. The speaker is Brandon W. Mathews
who establishes his credibility because he has experience in developing and putting in place new

forms of approaching prison reform and also is a researcher for the Alliance for Criminal Justice

Innovation.

I will use this in my research paper to show what could happen if prisoners were not used

for business and money, but rather for actual rehabilitation. I think this speech is very informing

on new approaches in the prison systems.

“US Inmates Nationwide Strike to Protest 'Modern Slavery'.” BBC News, BBC, 21 Aug.

2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45261381

This CNN news story called “US inmates nationwide strike to protest 'modern slavery”

was posted on August 21, 2018 and it covers a recent strike from prisoners and the reason they

did it. In this news story, it talks about a protest that was against prison labor, poor prison

conditions, over sentencing and more. This strike was due to a riot that broke out due to

overcrowding at prisons because of companies wanting to gain the most money from mass

incarceration. There is also a point in this story that says prisoners were fighting the California

fires for $.78 an hour and it says how if prisoners are going to be doing labor it should be labor

they volunteer to do. Prisoners aren’t protected by health and safety laws from work, so if an

injury were to happen they are not protected by workers comp. In this story, it also provides

statistical data of the incarceration rates of the United States compared to other countries. The

United States having the largest rate and also being a complete outlier.

The writer's purpose of this story was to share the current news, but also provides some

background on the how poorly the United States prison system is operating. The source is from
BBC news which is a well known and reliable news source. BBC provides news for all over the

world and is a credible place to get information.

I will use this source in my paper because it has good statistical evidence when talking

about incarceration rates, which would be beneficial in my paper. Also, it is current news and

shows that people are affected and upset by the way the prison system is operating.