Whole Foods has confirmed that it will no longer sell products made by prison labor, a practice that has drawn sharp scrutinyand protests in recent months.
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The chain, according to Time, stated that by April 2016, all of their tilapia and goat cheese that was farmed, crafted and raised by Colorado’s inmate labor program will be removed from stores.
Dunsmoor said Whole Foods buys Colorado prison tilapia from Quixotic Farming and cheese from Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy that is produced with prison goat milk.
Mr Allen notified Whole Foods in August of his intention to stage the demonstration in front of a Texas store if the company did not stop selling these products. The new policy will end the franchise’s working relationship with Colorado Correctional Industries. The partnership began in 2011.
The spokesman added: ‘We felt that supporting suppliers who found a way to be part of paid, rehabilitative work being done by inmates would help people get back on their feet and eventually become contributing members of society’.
The decision was made following a protest at a Whole Foods in Houston. But he said several states have programs where prisons contract with private companies.
Prison work programs are great in theory, if they’re not treated as plain servitude, and if users can learn a skill that’ll decrease their likelihood of recidivism after release. CCI’s base rate is 60 cents per day, though they say the monthly average pay comes to $300 to $400, “with incentives”.
Whole Foods, which is known for its natural and organic groceries, recently announced it would cut about 1,500 jobs.
CCI employed more than 1,800 prison inmates in 2014, says an annual report, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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And there are also questions about the justness of prison-work programs.
