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Social Issues
Estelle Timar-Wilcox

Students, activists protest U of M prison labor purchases

A group of protesters interrupt a meeting
A group of protesters interrupt a University of Minnesota Board of Regents meeting on Friday on the U of M Twin Cities campus. They were asking the university to stop working with a prison labor program.
Estelle Timar-Wilcox | MPR News

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A small group of protesters interrupted the Board of Regents meeting at the University of Minnesota on Friday, asking the school to end its practice of making purchases from prison laborers making less than minimum wage.  

The University of Minnesota has purchased furniture and laundry services from MINNCOR Industries, a program run by the state Department of Corrections that employs incarcerated people. The program was created to provide job skills and training to inmates.  

But, as protesters noted, the inmates make low wages — as low as 25 cents an hour. They’re demanding that the school only contract with workers who make at least minimum wage. 

Bryce Riesner is one of the student organizers behind the effort.  

“This is a terrible, terrible practice that they cannot continue,” Riesner said.   

As a member of the student government, Riesner drafted and passed a resolution asking the university to stop purchasing from MINNCOR. 

The university said in a statement that it does not currently have an open furniture contract with MINNCOR but has recently gone through the program for some repair and maintenance orders.  

“For the fiscal years when the MINNCOR furniture contract was effective, it accounted for roughly 0.1 percent of the university’s average annual spending in this commodity category,” the university said. 

Local criminal justice organizer and St. Paul School Board member Chauntyll Allen joined students and other local organizers for the protest. She thinks it doesn’t matter how much or how little is spent on these contracts.  

“Any money is a lot of money,” Allen said. “We have to start somewhere, and we have to start with ourselves.” 

Protesters carried signs and chanted in the Board of Regents’ meeting room. The disruption lasted just a few minutes, and the board turned back to its agenda once protesters left the room.  

Allen is focused on more organizing on the issue of prison labor. She’s advocating for a bill that was introduced in the state Legislature last year that would amend Minnesota’s constitution to restrict the practice.  

Minnesota’s constitution currently mandates that “there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.” The proposed bill seeks to strike out the exception that allows for the practice as a punishment.  

Rep. David Pinto, DFL — St. Paul, introduced the legislation last session. Allen wants to see it picked up again this year. 

A constitutional amendment would have to be put to voters. The bill calls for it to be added to the general election ballot in 2024.  

Student organizers at the U want to see school leadership join the call for a change to the state law.  

“This is a monumentally small ask,” Riesner said. “I cannot even fathom a world in which this practice continues.”