“If they (the workers) never received those benefits, that is insurance fraud,” said Philip Hood, commissioner of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission. He has opened an investigation into CAAIR in response to Reveal’s report, which he said could lead to criminal charges.

“That sounds like something from the early 1900s. And this is going on right now? And how is it legal?” he said. “Them being ordered to work for free is nothing short of slavery.”

A former judge with the commission was shocked by what CAAIR was doing.

“That’s fraudulent behavior,” said Eddie Walker. “What’s being done is clearly inappropriate.”

A Reveal investigation published Wednesday showed judges are steering men and women from drug and other diversion courts into rehabs that are little more than lucrative work camps for private industry. Experts said it could violate the 13th Amendment and state drug court law.

The potential workers comp fraud raises a third legal issue for CAAIR, which is based in northeastern Oklahoma and sends workers to plants in Arkansas and Missouri.