Combine that with the lowest unemployment and tightest job market in 30 years and you've got the formula for tapping into what might be the only low wage, labor-intensive workforce left. Gainsborough is not alone in her dissention. Both bid a hasty adieu to the contracts but still took a couple of hits to their reputations. When we found out about 'the use of prison labor' we brought it quickly to an end. The answer, like every aspect of this issue, is complex.
Anecdotal evidence says yes.
Motorola, McDonald's, Eddie Bauer, IBM, TWA, Target, Boeing, Starbucks, and Victoria's Secret have all contracted out to inmate labor pools with no reported problems. And more than 80,000 inmates hold jobs that would otherwise be occupied by free- roaming folks. Labor unions, inmate-rights advocates, and many on Capital Hill don't think so. The current law that governs federal prison industries is more than 60 years old. The problem is that federal prison industries have an unfair advantage over private business industries.