It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

Check out what Susanna at Cut on the Bias has unearthed

Rather than sending jobs to India or China, telemarketing firms are increasingly finding hired help in prisons.

Businesses say the inmates make good, hard-working employees in an industry plagued by high turnover. The prisoners are never late, absent or on vacation — and do the job for only about $130 a month, or less than $1 an hour. Companies also don't have to offer them benefits.

Aside from exploiting cheap and literally captive labor, this practice also allows for situations like this:

But critics of the practice warn that some prisoners have abused their access to personal information. In Washington state, for example, a jailed rapist harassed a woman with calls and cards.

All I can say is thank goodness for the Do Not Call Registry