Details:
According to a 2008 article, at least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generation by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from $392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum.
Source:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289 (2008)
http://www.freemanacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/MCC-Essay-Brooklyn.pdf (2015)
http://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1274&context=capstone (2015)
November 8, 2016 - "Minnesota Elects Country's First Muslim American Woman Legislator"
Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim American woman elected to any legislative body in the country's history. Omar, a Somali-American, is a former refugee and was elected to serve in Minnesota's state legislature. In order to win her party's nomination in Minneapolis, where she serves, she had to defeat a 44-year incumbent. She is an advocate for affordable college, criminal justice reform, economic equality and clean energy.