He explains that those prisoners with the least seniority or who have fallen into disfavor for anything from back talking to poor work habits will appear on the call-out list only for the largest contracts. Steve Curly, an Exmark employee, denied the company had packed any Windows 95. But he said that Exmark's TRCC operation had packed tens of thousands of units of Microsoft Office, and had wrapped and shipped as many as 40,000 Microsoft mice in one week. When work is plentiful, Exmark's prisoner workers shift into high gear. At other times they remain idle in their cells.
Most people are surprised to learn that private corporations use prison labor.
After the initial shock, however, many think it's a terrific new idea. But the concept is anything but new. Nineteenth-century prisons were basically forced labor camps. Prisoners were made to produce a wide array of goods including shoes, furniture, wagons, and stoves. For the sake of profit they were often housed in squalid conditions, fed rancid meat and wormy flour.