Free Republic

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday pledged that he will provide all Americans with a free vaccine for coronavirus if he is elected president. Addressing supporters in St. Louis on the eve of the Missouri primary contest, Sanders assailed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar for saying the Trump administration cannot control the price of the vaccine “because we need the private sector to invest.” “We are uniquely prepared to take on a pharmaceutical industry which in some cases charges us ten times more for the same exact drug that’s sold abroad,” Sanders began. “Let me tell you, if...

No wonder Mike Bloomberg wants to make everything illegal. The more people who are caught with Big Gulps, unregistered cigarettes, or pieces of plastic with a spring inside that are larger than what he deems legal, the more people end up prison, where Bloomberg’s campaign can then hire them to make phone calls for a fraction of what it would cost to hire non prison labor.

In one of the more surprising – and puzzling – stories of the 2020 Democratic primary race, we learned this week that New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg has been busy creating jobs long before he gets the chance to do so as president. As a bonus, the jobs were exclusively for women, making his efforts even more relevant in the current political landscape. Unfortunately for him, the press figured out that the jobs he was creating were for female prisoners in an Oklahoma lockup. Oops. (The Intercept) Former New York City mayor and multibillionaire Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg...

US presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has said that his campaign "unknowingly" used prison workers to call voters on his behalf. The billionaire Democrat said he had cut ties with a vendor which operates two call centres in state jails. Mr Bloomberg said he learned about the company's use of prison labour only after receiving a call from a reporter. He entered the election race in November with one of the largest-ever political ad buys. His campaign's use of prison labour was first reported by news site The Intercept, and confirmed by Mr Bloomberg in a statement on Tuesday. "We do...

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted 75-7 to potentially expand the use of state inmate labor by the government Monday (April 2). The legislation generated no debate from lawmakers on the House floor, but all seven lawmakers who voted against the bill are African American Democrats. House Bill 84 would allow the governor to authorize prisoners to do work other than custodial duties at the Department of Corrections headquarters in Baton Rouge. Officials are currently using prisoners to build a fence around the building, among other things, and it's "unclear" if inmates can be used for those jobs. Gov. John...

One of the largest companies to manufacture solar panels in the United States uses a surprising resource to keep costs low and compete against producers from China: prison labor. Suniva Inc, a Georgia-based solar cell and panel maker that is backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc, farms out a small portion of its manufacturing to federal inmates as part of a longstanding government program intended to prepare them for life after prison. Suniva does not actively publicize its work with the prisons, saying it prefers to talk about its in-house factories in Georgia and Michigan, which handle most of its...

American Apparel, the Selma, Ala., based military clothing manufacturer closed one of its plants and continues to downsize others due to the loss of some of its contracts to FPI. According retired Air Force colonel and spokesman Kurt Wilson, the company laid off 255 employees and cut the hours of 190 employees this year alone. So private workers end up losing their jobs to prisoners.

Arizona lawmakers want to erect a fence along the border with Mexico - whether the federal government thinks it's necessary or not. They've got a plan that could get a project started using online donations and prison labour. If they get enough money, all they would have to do is get cooperation from landowners and construction could begin as soon as this year. Governor Jan Brewer recently signed a bill that sets the state on a course to building a permanent barrier along its borders, and a website is being launched to raise money for the work.

At Wal-Mart's 1992 general meeting, founder Sam Walton asked shareholders to sing God Bless America. The 15,000 Wal-Martians responded to Sam's call - even though Walton had been dead for two months. Walton's request to the shareholder-cum-revival meeting in rural Arkansas - channelled through a spotlit executive crouching on bended knee to speak to the departed Deity of Retail - was scarcely surprising. Wal-Mart is America's most patriotic, flag-waving company. But look under the flags. Stores are decked out like a war rally. Stars and Stripes hang from the ceiling. Cardboard eagles shriek 'Buy America!' But one independent group sampled...

SHANGHAI (Kyodo) Two Japanese nationals in their 50s received heart transplants between 2001 and 2004 at a Shanghai hospital whose organs mainly come from death-row inmates, sources at a Taiwanese company that arranged the procedures said Thursday. Japan was seemingly unaware of the cases, as a survey released March 9 by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said there were no cases of Japanese receiving heart transplants in Asia outside of Japan. Ethical and medical concerns have often been raised regarding organ transplants in China over issues that include the use of organs of prisoners on death row and uncertain...

<p>Hundreds of minimum-security prisoners will soon be picking up litter and doing other chores along state roads. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Department of Corrections are working to expand the program now operating at five state prisons to all 25.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SOUTH FORK FOREST CAMP (AP) - It's easy to see why Oregon convicts describe this Coast Range prison camp as a uniquely appealing place to pay their debt to society. Where else, they ask, do convicts get to feed trail mix and granola to visiting deer? Nearly 200 inmates bunk here in cabin-like dormitories. There are no clanging steel bars, cramped cells or forbidding fences topped with razor wire. Surrounded by forested peaks, the camp's mountain air is richly scented by firs and cedars. "If you can't do time at South...

A jobs program for state prison inmates has tightened restrictions on inmate labor following an investigation into identity and credit card theft that led to federal indictments Wednesday in Memphis. Patricia Johnson, an inmate at the Tennessee Prison for Women and eight alleged co-conspirators, including University of Memphis basketball player Clyde Wade, were charged with using information obtained from prison data entry work to fraudulently obtain merchandise, cash, and gift cards from stores including Dillard’s, Sears and Goldsmith’s. Tennessee Rehabilitative Initiative in Correction (TRICOR), which provided work for Johnson and other inmates, has also lost some state government business as...

Boycott Chinese fireworks Posted: August 7, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Would you intentionally buy products made with slave labor? Would you intentionally buy products knowing that innocent men, women and children are dying to make them? That's what each of us does when we buy fireworks made in China. Ironically, we do this each year to celebrate our own freedom. Every year in late June and early July – at least in areas where selling fireworks is still legal – groups like churches, service clubs, schools, etc. raise money by selling fireworks to the public. Annual sales...

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Jobs for prison inmates with private sector or state-run employers help reduce recidivism rates and, despite claims of opponents to the contrary, can provide a spur to the economy, according to a recent report from a Washington think tank. "I think there are several points to be made from a social policy perspective and from a prison reform perspective," Robert D. Atkinson, vice president of the center-left Progressive Policy Institute, told United Press International. "(A program of prisoners working for outside employers) has positives in reducing recidivism, and economically. (The economic aspect) is really the...