Russell Stover has begun using prison labor to make candy in Kansas
A Russell Stover candy factory in Kansas has begun hiring incarcerated workers through a work release program, Eoin Higgins reports in his newsletter, The Flashpoint. About 150 women are bussed in from the Topeka Correctional Facility and paid $14 an hour, but the prison keeps some of their wages for room and board, taxes, transportation, and other expenses. When all is said and done, they take home less than $6 per hour. These deductions are high, but elsewhere in the country, they’re even higher: In our May series on prison labor and the food industry, we reported that incarcerated workers in the Idaho potato industry take home less than $2 per hour.
