The objective of the boycott is to achieve pay for prison labor, cheaper hygiene products, a moratorium against the death penalty, and enforcement of the law in contract procurement with minority businesses. Texas prisoners are subjected to the highest execution rate of any state.

Prisoners in Texas recently formed the coalition to take up issues concerning human rights and their living and working conditions. A resolution of the coalition states that "denial of wages is exploitation" and prevents "financial autonomy for self-maintenance of prisoners."

Among the jobs workers in prison are doing are manufacturing boots, shoes, office furniture, and other items; assembly of school buses for the Texas public school system; data processing for state and private agencies; and production of fixtures for jail and prison cells.

According to the coalition, materials produced by the prisoners are sold back to the prison and other companies. Funds for the prisoners' labor are placed into an account that allows for the prison to pay the prisoners, if the prison director chooses to do so.

Colgate, which has a monopoly to sell its products to the 150,000 prisoners in Texas, charges exorbitant prices to workers behind bars whose only source of funds is from family and friends. Despite the majority of poor and minority prisoners, the prison system appears to routinely deny outside minority contractors the opportunity to supply products to the prisons, the coalition says.

Arthur X. Carson, is the chairman of the National Paralegal and Institution Coalition.  
 
 
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