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After Costco was sued for slave labor claims and KitKat came under fire for using child labor, backlash whipped onto the front steps of Whole Foods for selling products under a prison labor program. Now, once protestors have gathered, advocates have spoken out, and customers have filed complaints, the company has decided to shut it down.
According to the Chicago Tribune, everything made under the prison partnership will be out of stores by April of next year. But somehow most consumers had no idea the grocery chain was sourcing prison labor to begin with. Under an agreement with the agriculture department of an inmate program called Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI), the brand has sold items like tilapia, trout, and goat cheese since 2011.
Whole Foods spokesman Michael Silverman explains that the brand has decided to cease these operations because "some customers became uncomfortable with it." However, he defended the initial choice to participate, telling the Tribune that the program "help[ed] people get back on their feet and eventually become contributing members of society."
But it seems the customers who "became uncomfortable" with this idea realize that there's potential for exploitation. Marc Mauer, the executive director of criminal justice advocacy group The Sentencing Project, told the Tribune that companies pay far less for prison labor than they otherwise would. "Are companies doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, or because it's cheap labor?" he said.
While we can't speak to the true motivation behind Whole Foods, it's worth noting that this is the same company that was found guilty of purposefully gouging customers with steep prices.
CCI director Dennis Dunsmoor explained that the program doesn't directly supply Whole Foods but that its partners do, adding that inmates who volunteer to partake earn 74 cents to $4 each day and are eligible for performance bonuses. He also stressed the importance of inmates gaining skills and work ethics that will help them secure employment after they are released. In 2014, the program employed more than 1,800 inmates, 80 percent of which remain out of jail a year after release—if they participated for six months or more.
Additionally, some of Whole Foods product partners regard programs like CCI to be a model for other states looking to improve the prison system and help inmates. For example, Quixotic Farming, which sells tilapia, sources the majority of its Missouri-raised fish from civilian work but is proud to also partner with CCI to support inmates while Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy director John Scaggs endorses the program and pays fair market price for the milk supplied under a contract.
But now that customers have spoken, the company that's already in hot water with consumers hasn't had much of a choice other than to completely cut ties with the labor program.
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