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Prison Industries

A man, wearing a blue prison uniform, white T-shirt, tan cap, and glasses, holds onto two yellow bins in front of an industrial ice cream machine.
Closing Argument February 3
The Food on Your Table, Brought to You By Prison Labor
Incarcerated workers help produce some of America’s most popular food brands, but get few of the benefits and protections afforded to others.
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An illustration shows a man in prison with an upset expression on his face on the left, calling his family outside of prison, who are on the right side of the image, and also have upset expressions. In the background is an image of a prison on the left, and a home on the right. Dollars float in the foreground of the image, and two arrows pointing upwards indicate the rising cost of calls.
Cleveland February 1, 2023
The High Cost of a Conversation From Cuyahoga County Jail
Phone calls from this Ohio county jail cost eight times as much as calls from any Ohio state prison.
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Life Inside August 4, 2022
Prison Money Diaries: What People Really Make (and Spend) Behind Bars
We asked people in prison to track their earning and spending — and bartering and side hustles — for 30 days. Their accounts reveal a thriving underground economy behind bars.
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Spencer Cliche in the auditorium of Massachusetts’ Amherst Regional High School, where seats were reupholstered using prison labor.
News June 24, 2019
First Big Scoop: Student Journalists Expose High School’s Use of Prison Labor
“Whatever would come of this, they wouldn’t expel me or anything,” said a 17-year-old reporter. “I’m just presenting the facts.”
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Feature December 10, 2015
The Marshall Project’s Holiday Gift Guide
From prison pups to personal trainers with rap sheets.
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An inmate fire crew walk along Highway 120 as firefighters continue to battle the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California in 2013.
Q&A August 20, 2015
Prisoners Who Fight Wildfires in California: An Insider’s Look
For $2 a day, “It’s a hairy adventure, let me tell you.”
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The Frame May 1, 2015
Prison Plantations
One man’s archive of a vanished culture.
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