By: Nick Pinto: Hell Gate
New York’s prison labor system, in which incarcerated people make everything from office furniture and uniforms to license plates and hand sanitizer, earning pennies an hour, is not some coercive analog of slavery, Acting Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III, who runs the state prison system, told a New York State Senate panel Monday. It’s rehabilitative, teaching people in custody useful skills they can take back to the job market upon release, becoming productive members of society. People aren’t punished for being too sick to work. They can earn time off their sentence with their labor. People aren’t even required to work in the prison industry—whose products are sold to government and non-profit clients under the brand name Corcraft—at all.