Carceral Labor in the Auto Industry - Incite at Columbia University

Active Project

Carceral Labor in the Auto Industry

Man working in auto factory
  • Team Adam Reich Suresh Naidu Dongwoo Park Aaron Sojourner Susan Helper
  • In Partnership with Jobs to Move America

Alabama's automobile supply chain employs incarcerated workers alongside traditional employees, creating a complex labor ecosystem with unclear effects on working conditions.

In partnership with Jobs to Move America, the Columbia Labor Lab is conducting the first comprehensive study examining how incarcerated labor affects wages and working conditions in Alabama's automobile supply chain—a key hub for automotive manufacturing in the non-union South.

Our research makes use of original survey data of incarcerated and non-incarcerated workers collected by Jobs to Move America. The project analyzes how prison labor affects wage levels and working conditions throughout the supply chain, and develops a new model of employment in imperfectly competitive labor markets. This research will inform advocacy efforts and contribute to academic understanding of how prison labor systems – and other forms of coercive labor systems – interact with traditional employment markets.

We are currently finalizing a comprehensive public-facing report, with an academic publication to follow.
 

More Projects

  • go to Rebellious Neighborhoods
    Rebellious Neighborhoods
    Serbia is experiencing growing democratic erosion. In response, the Ministry of Space Collective has launched Rebellious Neighborhoods, an initiative that reclaims urban space, amplifies community struggles, and rebuilds civic participation from the ground up. Part of the Global Change Program
  • go to Identifying Latent Leaders
    Identifying Latent Leaders
    Using predictive modeling to identify potential organizers and activists within union membership data. In Partnership with SEIU Local 32BJ and Communications Workers of America
  • go to Cartographies of Massacres: Visual and Spatial Methods in Human Rights Research
    Cartographies of Massacres: Visual and Spatial Methods in Human Rights Research
    This project examines how communities process generational trauma by combining human rights research with innovative visual and spatial methods, focusing on massacres in Israel/Palestine between 1947 and 1949. Part of the Hard Questions Grant
  • go to Listening Tables
    Listening Tables
    Creating spaces on Columbia University's campus to navigate conflicts with mutual respect, empathy, and a commitment to rebuilding trust.