Dangerous jobs: U.S. prisoners often work without basic protections

U.S. prisoners are being placed in dangerous jobs, sometimes with little or no training. They pick up trash along busy highways, fight wildfires, and operate heavy machinery. They work on industrial-sized farms, poultry and meat-processing plants tied to the supply chains of some of the world’s most iconic companies, from McDonald's to Walmart. But incarcerated workers and their families often have little or no recourse when they are hurt or killed on the job

Class discussion: When a private company or government agency uses prisoners as laborers, should the prisoners be considered employees with the same health, safety and workers’ compensation rules as everyone else? When the United States abolished slavery, why did it specifically exempt prisoners? Americans are sometimes asked to boycott foreign goods made by prison labor. Should we boycott goods made by U.S. prisoners? Which nation imprisons the largest share of its people?