Call Centers in Prisons
You may not know that many companies that are household names make use of prison labor in the United States. The cliche is prisoners making license plates for the state, or doing road work.
Corporations are pretty quiet about the contracts they have with UNICOR and other companies that operate prisons. There is just no way to put a pretty face on the practice. There is a chance that when you call customer service the person answering the phone will be a convict. My source indicated that there were prison call centers in almost every state in America.
The biggest critics of these programs are, not surprisingly, the competition. Defenders say that the prisons are competing with outsourcing not domestic call centers.
My biggest concern is that a people who profit from the prison system are not going to be motivated to curb the growth of the prison population through positive social change. One sad aspect of this is that prisoners who are indirectly working for big corporations have no hope of getting the same kind of work for that employer on the outside. That is just wrong.
October 4th, 2007 at 11:19 am
You miss the main problem involved with this scheme. Comsumers will be in the position of giving potentially sensitive information to CRIMINALS!!
• When is a good time to call (when are you usually at home)?
• How many people live in your home (Do you live alone)?
• Your age (Are you old/young enough for my associates “on the outside” to easily overpower )?
• SSN, date of birth, passwords, etc.
A NOTE ON ‘REHABILITATION’:
Unless you’re a bored, white suburban kid from Connecticut, being a criminal is not usually a ‘mistake’ that someone makes. It is a way of life. Usually one that is consciously chosen to a greater or lesser degree. The concept of ‘rehabilitation’ is a joke, a red herring, a fig leaf… whatever you want to call it. I grew up around plenty of criminals in South-Central Los Angeles. The fact is, that most of the criminals I knew were PROUD of being criminals, and viewed it as a sign of strength. In their world-view, their choices are; be a criminal or be a bum/punk/ a nothing. Be a criminal, or be weak. Be the predator or be the prey. To them, do-gooders, ‘prison-as-rehabilitation’ people are just ‘useful idiots’ and tools to be used.
Back to the topic. Even if the prisoners on the phone aren’t the worst-of-the-worst of the prison population, they’re still in a position to be threatened or pressured into scamming the public by the hardcore element in the prison and/or by crooked guards.
The fact that these criminals will be representing widely-known U.S. corporations makes it that much more easy for them to work their scams and cons (Sears/Target/Victoria’s Secret would never break into my home or loot my bank account… would they?). This is an idiotic idea. You’ve got to be joking.