I have written extensively on state prison industries, the federal PIE program and the impact of both upon private sector jobs and manufacturing. This is the first time I've written informatively on the Federal Prison Industries, (trade name UNICOR). UNICOR has an inmate work force of over 20,000 operating in factories all over the United States. They make a myriad assortment of products and provide services such as call centers. It has been reported that UNICOR manufactures 100% of the military equipment used by our Armed Forces (excluding actual weaponry).

Inmates working for UNICOR are generally paid at the rate of between $.20 and $1.50 an hour for their labor. UNICOR is not a PIECP participant and thus the federal law 18 USC 1761 does not control their operations or restrict the transport of prisoner made goods across state lines. I've questioned this disparity whereby the federal government can restrict the use, sale and transport of state-prisoner made goods but provides no similar prohibitions as to federal prisoner made goods.

I have specifically stayed clear of reporting about UNICOR because of its non-involvement with PIECP. However today I have to change that policy due to research involving the Obama Administration's policies regarding prison labor - specifically the use of labor and sales of products by UNICOR.

Though I haven't written extensively about UNICOR that is not to say I haven't been vocal about the issues with federal officials and even President Obama. I wrote to his transition team in 2007 and have written two more letters to the President on the issue of PIECP and lost jobs to inmate labor. Sadly, he nor his office has replied to any of my requests for a response to the issues presented.

In October of last year, our Attorney General, Eric Holder was contacted by myself - and possibly others - on issues involving the use of prison labor and the impact upon our jobs and economy from such cheap labor by the states as well FPI(UNICOR).

On November 29, 2010 I again addressed this issue on the federal level- as many of DK's readers did - by sending an "Open Letter to Eric Holder." I don't know if any of you received a response, but I have not received one from AG Holder or his office in response to my emails or the letter sent in November.

In my research I recently found a "memo" sent from AG Holder to: "HEADS OF DEPARTMENT COMPONENTS." This document clearly instructs all Department Heads that they should procure more products from the Federal Prison Industries. It is interesting how he worded this "memo" though:

"The purpose of this memorandum is to express my strong support for the Federal Prison Industries program (FPI or trade name UNICOR), an important Justice Department program. I ask you to support this critical program by encouraging your staff to purchase FPI products and services to the greatest extent practicable in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). "Through the outstanding work of the investigating and prosecuting components of the department, we yield thousands of successful cases each year, resulting in continued growth of the federal prison population... "...FPI relies on agencies and departments in the federal government to buy their products, thereby allowing this wholly-owned government corporation to operate in a self-sustaining manner. In recent months as a result in a drop in sales to federal agencies, FPI has been forced to close factories, displacing hundreds of civilian workers and reducing the impact of one of the department's most important correctional programs. We need your help to prevent any further erosion of the program. "I am asking each of you to review each of FPI's extensive catalog of products and services which is available online at: http://www.unicor.gov/... , in order to ensure that your procurement staff consistently support FPI to the greatest extent possible."

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Now I believe all of us are surprised to hear the Attorney General of our country express such statements that "through outstanding work" the federal prison population is growing! What the hell? I thought the entire purpose of having prisons was to encourage a drop in prisoners through rehabilitation. How can anyone - especially our Attorney General appear to sound so gladdened that prison populations are growing? Could it be he's interested in acquiring more of a labor force for FPI?

Additionally, as I've shown over and over again...the continued use of prison labor in the US is responsible for more and more civilian jobs being lost. This is not a "concept" or conjecture, it is hard fact demonstrated by numerous private sector closures and job dismissals as operations moved into prison factories. Lufkin industries lost 180 workers in 2008 and Austin, TX. lost another 150 civilian jobsto prison labor when US Technologies closed their operation there and moved it into the prison in Lockhart, TX. These are just a few of the closures and jobs lost to prison labor.

How can our President be working so hard to stop jobs lost to outsourcing and ignore insourcing of our jobs to prison labor? Is it possible Holder and the President aren't actually "ignoring" the impact upon our jobs by prison labor, rather they're simply not speaking about it? Maybe it's because the rhetoric we hear from the White House is just that - disinformation to keep us thinking the President and his Administration are working to keep and create jobs...while in actuality they are encouraging more prison labor and urging government agencies and department to buy as much of the products made by FPI so it keeps prisoners busy and the "wholly-owned government corporation" profitable.

Because this is considered a government corporation, who is the CEO, CFO or COO? Obama? Holder? The head of the Bureau of Prisons? I mean isn't that an important question? Possibly the answer to this single query would identify who is actually profiting from this "wholly-owned federal corporation." It certainly is not the U.S. citizens or private business.

Obviously a letter to all government department heads instructing them to buy as many products and services from FPI to keep it operating and stop any "further erosion" indicates more than merely support for an important program. It tells us that our government would prefer to buy materials, equipment and products from its own corporation and to do so and keep it "profitable" more inmates need to be put to work, more prison factories reopened and more federal employees put back to work in those factories.

To me this entire concept seems at total odds with what we're being told by the mainstream media and the President himself. How can the President work to put more of us back to work while at the same time call for more prison labor and less private sector purchasing by the government? He has to be aware that in this economic situation we're experiencing, less sales by civilian manufacturers and businesses results in more jobs lost - not more civilians employed!

A possible answer to all of the above is this: the President and many of his top officials have become more than just supporters of the Prison Industrial Complex, they are administrators of the top corporation within that complex. I've thought about this for the past week or so now, and find myself realizing that while I've been complaining about corporations using inmate labor and costing us our jobs, I never thought once that our own government was in fact operating one of the largest U.S. corporations with tens of thousands of workers and actually participating in the exploitation of prison labor - with the same end result - elimination of private sector jobs while increasing the profits derived from the labor of the incarcerated.

I find that where the Dems have been calling for criminal justice reforms and reduced competition from prison industries and labor, the Republicans have held the opposite beliefs. They have supported more laws, tougher sentences, less leniency and the use of privatized prisons and prison labor. Strangely I now see a complete reversal from the Republicans and especially the Conservatives on the right who are pushing for reforms of the justice system and reduced incarceration...while the AG applauds more convictions and a growing prison population (and consequently a larger work force)and through his office, the President heads up one of the worst prison industry corporations involved in increasing inmate populations and prison industry operations.

I have no doubt Holder and the President will deny this, but what other explanation is there for what's being said by them and the result of their actions regarding prison issues? I mean the President has said over and over again that corporate involvement in our elections and driving our economy into the ground, are the problem we face. At the same time he provides these statements, he appointed a well-known GEO Group "consultant" to the position of Director of the U.S. Marshal's Office. Now he allows the AG to issue orders to all department heads to increase their purchases of prison made products - and services - so UNICOR will remain vibrant and reopen factories and put more prisoners to work.

Believe it or not this is all interconnected between the feds and PIECP. I say that because of several reasons. First, UNICOR's Paul Laird, Chief Operating Officer is a member of the NCIA's Board of Directors. The National Correctional Industries Association was chosen by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 1995 to take over oversight and policy enforcement for the PIECP program. So the DOJ has a representative sitting on the Board of the Association that has responsibility for overseeing the federal PIE program that allows state prison industries to ship prisoner made goods all over the U.S. As I stated previously and I know you're prolly tired of hearing it this program is corrupt. It is getting away with serious violations that should put all participants in federal prison, yet they are allowed to operate without any real federal oversight (as I reported previously, the BJA has recently issued policies that seem to have taken the NCIA out of the program's oversight that may eliminate the NCIA from compliance reviews, etc).

There are other connections between the NCIA and UNICOR. The Corporate members of the NCIA - those who supply materials and supplies to the prison industries or use prison labor in their manufacturing or services - also supply materials and supplies to the industries run by UNICOR. Here's a list of some of the corporations and businesses involved in supplying state and federal prison factories and supporting both financially through the NCIA:

PLUS 2/90 Sign Systems

PLUS 3M

PLUS A.C. Furniture Co. Inc.

CORP A+ Career Apparel by SAI

CORP Abner Henry Fine Furniture

CORP All State Distributors N.E. Inc.

CORP American National Supply/Imark Pen

CORP Aptan Corporation

CORP ARAMARK

CORP Avery Dennison

CORP Bay Product Development

CORP BCB Professional Finishing Solutions

CORP Beau-Fab Inc.

CORP Blind Industries and Services of Maryland

CORP Bob Barker Co.

PLUS Bodek and Rhodes

CORP Bonded Logic Inc

CORP Bone Safety Signs

CORP Brodart Company

CORP Brother International

CORP Bruin Plastics Company, Inc.

CORP Brulin Corporation

CORP C.F. Stinson, Inc.

PLUS CAPRI Optics/Welling Eyewear

CORP ChemTick Coated Fabrics, Inc.

PLUS Chestnut Ridge Foam, Inc.

CORP Classic Optical Laboratories, INC

CORP Coast to Coast Leather & Vinyl

PLUS Comade, Inc

CORP Cortech

CORP CP Bourg Inc

CORP CTA Acoustics dba Corbin Fiber Products

CORP Custom Ingredients

CORP DAF Products, Inc.

CORP Dauphin 303-908-2476

CORP Douglass Industries, Inc.

CORP Dunlap Industries, Inc.

CORP Dupont Inc

CORP Ecolab, Inc.

CORP Epicor Software

CORP Fiberesin Industries, Inc.

CORP Fulterer USA, Inc.

CORP G.A. Braun, Inc.

PLUS Gerber Coburn

CORP Global Shop Solutions

CORP Groz-Beckert USA, Inc.

CORP Hart Specialties, Inc.

PLUS Henderson Sewing Machine Co., Inc.

CORP Herculite Products, Inc.

CORP High Point Furniture Industries

CORP Hi-Tech Narrow Fabrics

CORP Human Potential Consultants, LLC

PLUS Indiana Chair Frame

CORP Integrated Strategies

CORP Ivars USA

CORP J. Tech Sales, L.L.C.

CORP J. Weinstein & Sons

CORP JAVS

CORP Jenny Corporation

CORP Jenny Service Company

PLUS Jensen USA

PLUS John R. Wald Company

PLUS Jupiter Aluminum Corporation

PLUS Keefe Group

CORP Kurz Transfer Products, L.P.

CORP Light Corporation

CORP Masterfoods, USA

PLUS Mayer Fabrics, Inc.

CORP ModuForm, Inc.

CORP Momentum Group

CORP MTJ American

CORP Nassau Vision Group

CORP Nightingale, Inc.

CORP Nippon Carbide ndustries (USA) Inc.

CORP NORIX Group, Inc.

CORP Northwest Woolen Mills

CORP Novavision Ltd.

CORP OEI

CORP Office Star Products

CORP Pinnacle Services

PLUS Plascon Inc.

PLUS PortionPac Chemical Corporation

CORP Power Commissary, Inc.

PLUS Quality Metals, Inc.

PLUS Raytex Fabrics, Inc.

CORP Rudolph Foods

CORP Simplex Textiles Inc

CORP Solo Slide Fasteners, Inc.

CORP SpecialMade Goods & Services, Inc.

CORP Spec-Tex, Inc.

PLUS The Fox Company

CORP The Shoe Sale, LLC

CORP The Wolf Machine Company

CORP Top Supplies, Inc. div. of Richelieu Hardware

CORP Union Supply Company, Inc.

CORP United Fabrics, Inc.

PLUS Unitex International, Inc.

CORP UTSCH

CORP VIA Inc

CORP Vulcan Inc

Some of you will recognize that some of these same NCIA member corporations as also belonging to or funding the American Legislative Exchange Council or using inmate labor in prison industries: like 3M and Aramark.

Holder's "memo" dispels the notion that the Federal Prison Industries are an agency, bureau or department of the U.S. Government. His bringing to us the fact that the FPI is actually a U.S. Corporation also informs it exists to make a profit - like all other corporations involved in using prisoners for profit. In 2008 UNICOR's gross sales were $854 million! They employed 21,000+ inmates and operated 102 prison industries nationwide. Holder has a DOJ representative sitting upon UNICOR's Board (see the annual report link above) along with five other members representing labor, agriculture, retailers and consumers, Industry and the DOD.

President Obama's Corporations is doing well for the government - not so well for us.

Something here is not passing the smell test. I hope those of you who stop by tonight and tomorrow will be kind enough to leave comments that either makes my case or dispels these assumptions and allegations as poorly made and based upon too little facts.