A New Jersey company’s work with Oklahoman prisoners made headlines Tuesday after a report revealed a prison call center was used in billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign.
A third-party vendor working with the campaign hired ProCom, a Vineland-based company, to make the calls, according to The Intercept.
The report also noted the calls were to California from a minimum-security women’s prison in Oklahoma.
Bloomberg’s campaign ended the contract after receiving questions from the news site.
Most prison labor is paid pennies per hour, and the average maximum daily wage for prisoners is down to $3.45, according to Prison Policy Initiative.
ProCom co-founder John Scallan told The Intercept the company pays the prison call center workers $7.25 per hour, which is Oklahoma’s minimum wage.
Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.
Comments