ROBIN MCDOWELL

Willie Crayton's hat hangs on a cross bearing the Lord's Prayer and marking the location along Elder Road, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, in Dadeville, Ala, where the Alexander City Community Work Center transport van he was riding in crashed in April 2024, killing Crayton and Bruce Clements. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Takeaways from The Associated Press’ reporting on prison labor in Alabama
No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama.
 
Tyrone Heard stands in his living room with his kids Karinina, 8, Tyrone, Jr., 7, and Kylee, 5, after they arrived home from school, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Alexander City, Ala. Heard's uncle, Willie Craytwon was killed while on work release riding in an Alexander City Work Center transport van that crashed in April. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Alabama profits off prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for parole
No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama.
 
April Youst pauses for a cigarette in her backyard in West Virginia on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Takeaways from The Associated Press investigation into sexual abuse of incarcerated women
As part of a sweeping two-year investigation into prison labor, The Associated Press found that correctional staff nationwide have been accused of using inmate work assignments to sexually abuse incarcerated women, luring them to isolated spots, out of view of security cameras.
 
April Youst looks out from the top of the stairs in her West Virginia home on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Prison work assignments used to lure and rape female inmates. Guards sometimes walk free
As part of a sweeping two-year investigation into prison labor, The Associated Press found that correctional staff nationwide have been accused of using inmate work assignments to sexually abuse incarcerated women, luring them to isolated spots, out of view of security cameras.
 
In this Aug. 18, 2011 photo, prison guards ride horses that were broken by inmates as they return from farm work detail at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. In September, several incarcerated workers along with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Voice of the Experienced filed a class-action lawsuit calling for an end to the farm line, and accusing the state of cruel and unusual punishment. But as temperatures soared in May, the men asked the court in an emergency filing to stop work during extreme heat. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Prisoners fight against working in heat on former slave plantation, raising hope for change in South
As daily temperatures hit record highs across much of the South, a federal judge has taken an unusual step, challenging the treatment of mostly Black incarcerated workers in the fields.
 
FILE - A prison guard rides a horse alongside prisoners as they return from farm work detail at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., on Aug. 18, 2011. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, July 3, 2024, giving the state department of corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions on the so-called Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
As temperatures soar, judge tells Louisiana to help protect prisoners working in fields
A federal judge has ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation.
 
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism Chair Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, to examine forced labor in prisons. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Sen. Cory Booker questions US prison labor policies, calls for change
Sen. Cory Booker says prisoners should be learning professional skills that help prepare them for their release instead of being forced to work.
 
Blas Sanchez makes his way through a room in his home, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, in Winslow, Ariz. Sanchez's leg was mutilated while working near the chicken manure chute as a prison laborer at Hickman's Family Farms in 2015 in Tonopah, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Takeaways from the AP’s investigation into how US prisoners are hurt or killed on the job
An Associated Press investigation into prison labor in the United States found that prisoners who are hurt or killed on the job are often being denied the rights and protections offered to other American workers.
 
Blas Sanchez prepares to put on a prosthetic Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, in Winslow, Ariz.Sanchez's leg was mutilated while working near the chicken manure chute as a prison laborer at Hickman's Family Farms in 2015 in Tonopah, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher)
US prisoners are being assigned dangerous jobs. But what happens if they are hurt or killed?
An Associated Press investigation into prison labor in the United States found that prisoners who are hurt or killed on the job are often being denied the rights and protections offered to other American workers.
 
Prisoners harvest turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, April 15, 2014, in Angola, La. Within days of arrival, they head to the fields, sometimes using hoes and shovels or picking crops by hand. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Takeaways from the AP’s investigation into how US prison labor supports many popular food brands
In a sweeping two-year investigation, The Associated Press found goods linked to prisoners wind up in the supply chains of everything from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour and Coca-Cola.
 
In this Aug. 18, 2011 photo, a prison guard rides a horse alongside prisoners as they return from farm work detail at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment's exception clause, that allows for prison labor, provided legal cover to round up thousands of mostly young Black men. They then were leased out by states to plantations like Angola and some of the country's biggest privately owned companies, including coal mines and railroads. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands
In a sweeping two-year investigation, The Associated Press found goods linked to prisoners wind up in the supply chains of everything from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour and Coca-Cola.
 
Inmates harvest turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, April 15, 2014, in Angola, La. The former 19th-century antebellum plantation once was owned by one of the largest slave traders in the United States. Within days of arrival, they head to the fields, sometimes using picking crops hoes and shovels or picking crops by hand. After working three years for free, they earn between 2 cents and 40 cents an hour, sweating under the watchful eyes of gun-toting correctional officers on horseback. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Lorem Ipsum Dolor
Unmarked trucks packed with prison-raised cattle roll out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where men are forced to work, sometimes for pennies an hour or nothing at all. After rumbling down a country road to an auction house, the cows are bought by a local rancher and then followed by The Associ
 
3 takeaways of AP review of COVID-19 in youth detention
More and more inmates at risk of contracting the coronavirus are being released from adult jails and prisons.
 
Cattle from abandoned Rohingya villages sold to displaced
Thousands of cows and goats grazed in abandoned fields and wandered through charred out Rohingya Muslim villages after a military crackdown sent nearly a half-million members of Myanmar’s long-persecuted religious minorities fleeing across the border.
 
AP: Global supermarkets selling shrimp peeled by slaves
SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand (AP) — Every morning at 2 a.m., they heard a kick on the door and a threat: Get up or get beaten. For the next 16 hours, No. 31 and his wife stood in the factory that owned them with their aching hands in ice water.
 
US: Myanmar should share responsibility for Rohingya crisis
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Navy ships were scouring Southeast Asian waters for boats believed to be carrying thousands of migrants with little food or water, and a top U.S. diplomat said Myanmar needs to shoulder some responsibility for the crisis.
 
Myanmar says it’s not to blame for migrant crisis
“We are not ignoring the migrant problem, but our leaders will decide whether to attend the meeting based on what is going to be discussed,” said Maj. Zaw Htay, director of the office of Myanmar’s president. “We will not accept the allegations by some that Myanmar is the source of the problem.”
 
AP investigation prompts emergency rescue of 300 plus slaves
“I will go see my parents. They haven’t heard from me, and I haven’t heard from them since I left,” said Win Win Ko, 42, beaming, his smile showing missing teeth. The captain on his fishing boat had kicked out four teeth with his military boots, he said, because Win was not moving fish fast enough f
 
AP Investigation: Are slaves catching the fish you buy?
But the eight imprisoned men were considered flight risks — laborers who might dare run away. They lived on a few bites of rice and curry a day in a space barely big enough to lie down, stuck until the next trawler forces them back to sea.
 
Aid groups in Myanmar trip over links to elite
The U.S. government, via its aid proxies, has been lining the pockets of former spy chief Gen. Khyin Nyunt since Washington eased economic sanctions two years ago.