Alabama’s expansive anti-immigrant law, HB56, has been so economically devastating that farmers in the state sought legislation to force hard labor on prison inmates eligible for work release programs, to “help farms fill the gap and find sufficient labor.” The state’s Department of Corrections opposed the legislation, noting that its approximately 2,000 prisoners eligible for work release already have jobs, and that “the prison system isn’t the solution to worker shortages caused by the law.”
Censored News Cluster: Women and Gender, Race and Ethnicity
Agence France-Presse, “Alabama Farmers Look to Replace Migrants with Prisoners,” Raw Story, December 6, 2011, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/06/alabama-farmers-look-to-replace-migrants-with-prisoners.
CanyonWren, “Of Course! Inmate Labor in Place of Migrants in Alabama,” Daily Kos (blog), December 8, 2011, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/08/1043143/-Of-Course!-Inmate-Labor-in-Place-of-Migrants-in-Alabama.
Mike Elk and Bob Sloan, “The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor,” Nation, August 1, 2011, http://www.thenation.com/article/162478/hidden-history-alec-and-prison-labor.
http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2012/01/12/alabama-farmers-look-to-replace-migrants-with-prisoners/
Student Researcher: Liliana Valdez-Madera (Santa Rosa Junior College)
Faculty Evaluator: Susan Rahman (Santa Rosa Junior College)