Rajan Wilcox
Prisons are often located in industrial areas, close to oil fields, refineries, and other petrochemical facilities. In California, for example, prisons are within 2,500 feet of oil and gas extraction sites. Louisiana has a long history of using prison labor for private profit, with incarcerated people working in the oil and gas industry, including in oil spill response and offshore drilling. In addition, prisoners in Cook County Jail in Chicago turn vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel, which is used to run the jail's trucks.
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What You'll Learn
California prisons are within 2,500 feet of oil and gas extraction
California prisoners are on the front lines of the environmental justice movement, with thousands living within 2,500 feet of operational oil and gas wells. The entire prison system is an extractive industry, and prisons are often located in industrial-zoned areas neighboring oil fields, drilling operations, refineries, and other petrochemical facilities. In California, this includes the Pitchess Detention Center and North County Correctional Facility in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita, which house nearly 7,000 incarcerated prisoners and are within 2,500 feet of more than two dozen operational oil and gas wells.
The health impacts of oil and gas extraction fall disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color, and incarcerated prisoners are often at the nexus of these two vulnerable populations. Prisoner health is already overlooked in overcrowded facilities with inadequate healthcare, and California prisons have failed to provide sufficient protections from COVID-19, with low vaccination rates among staff. Chronic exposure to air pollution and fine particulate matter generated by fossil fuel extraction, refineries, and wildfire smoke further increase the vulnerability of prison populations to COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
Oil and gas development and industrial operations with toxic byproducts have severe environmental and health impacts, including contaminated groundwater and air quality degradation. In California, these impacts are felt most strongly by Frontline Communities living closest to oil and gas extraction sites, which are predominantly low-income households with non-white and Latinx demographics. Additionally, California has a history of using incarcerated workers as firefighters, placing them on the front lines of the climate crisis without adequate protection from wildfire exposure.
To address these issues, California is in the midst of a statewide public health rule-making process to mitigate the health impacts of oil and gas extraction on Frontline Communities. Local advocacy groups are also calling for a moratorium on new drilling permits and a setback distance of at least 2,500 feet between oil and gas production and sensitive receptors like homes, schools, hospitals, and prisons. By decreasing the number of oil and gas wells, protecting the public from toxic chemicals, and stopping petrochemical expansion into vulnerable communities, organizations like FracTracker Alliance are working to advance just energy alternatives that protect public health, natural resources, and the climate.
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Louisiana's oil and gas industry uses prison labour
Louisiana has a long history of using captive labor for private profit. The state currently has the highest incarceration rate in the country, with a hugely overrepresented Black population. The state penitentiary at Angola was once a plantation, and incarcerated people there still till the fields.
Public documents obtained by Scalawag and Southerly show that the Lafourche Parish Work Release facility has made a practice of allowing the oil and gas industry to hire incarcerated workers. The facility has been operating for about two decades, and in October 2019, records reveal that Lafourche assigned work release participants to employment at 39 local companies, half of which service the oil and gas sector in some way.
Rob Martin, an inmate at the Lafourche facility, described how his days began at 4 a.m. He was taken to work 12 to 16-hour shifts at a job placement chosen for him by the facility operators. During his first week, Martin worked 50 hours and returned to the facility with just $43. After about a year, he was hired as a maintenance supervisor of dockside operations for a company that recycled and produced drilling fluid for oil and gas companies.
Martin also described the dangerous nature of the work. Around the time he was in work release, a contract worker was killed while performing routine maintenance on a gas pipeline in Louisiana waters. Martin himself once used his body to divert a stream of drilling fluid from a ruptured line, expressing concern about the number of unknown chemicals that entered his body.
The oil and gas industry operates on a boom and bust cycle. In 2016, the work release facility in Terrebonne Parish, which is near Lafourche, closed during an oil bust. The facility was run by Louisiana Workforce LLC, a private third-party contractor. The owner, Paul Perkins, is a former long-standing DPS employee and regular donor to local sheriff's campaigns. Perkins closed the facility when oil prices dropped, as it was no longer financially viable.
Incarcerated people are often dispatched to help clean up disaster sites or assigned to work in the industries that fuel climate change, such as cleaning up oil spills or working in the offshore drilling industry. Louisiana's Department of Safety and Corrections (DPS) bills work release as a way of assisting incarcerated people in the transition from prison back into the workforce, reducing recidivism in the process. However, Martin noted that the system is designed to benefit its operators, such as parish sheriffs and private contractors, over its participants.
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Cook County Jail inmates turn vegetable oil into diesel fuel
In 2019, a group of detainees at Cook County Jail began turning vegetable oil into diesel fuel as part of a new program. The program teaches inmates how to make biodiesel fuel from cooking oil used in the jail's dining halls. The process starts with week-old vegetable oil used to fry food in the jail's officer dining hall or the county's juvenile detention center. When the vegetable oil reacts with methanol in the presence of a catalyst—in this case, potassium hydroxide—the chemical reaction produces biodiesel and glycerin. The glycerin is then separated and drained, leaving behind biodiesel, which can be used to fuel trucks.
Two of the Cook County sheriff’s utility trucks, which transport supplies throughout the county, run exclusively on the biodiesel produced at the jail. The program has produced 400 gallons of biodiesel, saving the jail thousands of dollars in diesel fuel costs. In addition to the financial benefits, the program also offers therapeutic and job training benefits to the inmates. Corrections officer Tony Lordo, who first explored the idea, said, "The whole point is to maybe get you to look past last indiscretions [...] No matter how far down we fall, we always look to go forward. We don’t want to go back, OK?".
The use of prison labor in the oil and gas industry is not limited to Cook County Jail. In Louisiana, for example, the Department of Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) offers a work-release program that allows incarcerated people to work in the oil and gas sector during the last six months to four years of their sentence. While this program is billed as a way to assist inmates in transitioning back into the workforce, it has been criticized for benefiting private contractors and local companies over the participants. Similarly, California has tasked incarcerated workers as firefighters, placing them on the frontlines of the climate crisis without providing sufficient protections.
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Fossil fuel extraction impacts prisoner health
Prisons are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change and causing harm to the health of their inmates and neighbouring communities. The impact of fossil fuel extraction on prisoner health is a pressing issue, with prisons often located in industrial areas near oil fields, refineries, and other petrochemical facilities.
In California, for example, prisons are within 2,500 feet of oil and gas extraction sites, exposing prisoners to air pollution and fine particulate matter generated by fossil fuel extraction. The health risks of air pollution are well-documented, with poor air quality increasing respiratory ailments, the risk of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and cancer. In addition, the stress of confinement and limited access to healthcare further exacerbate the health risks for prisoners.
The environmental injustices experienced by prisoners are also evident in Louisiana, where the Laborde Correctional Center was evacuated after a neighbouring abandoned tire landfill caught fire and burned for four days. The health of those trapped inside the prison was compromised, and the state's environmental agency and the tire company were held responsible for failing to address compliance issues. Furthermore, Louisiana has a long history of using prison labour for private profit, including in the oil and gas industry, which further endangers incarcerated individuals by exposing them to hazardous work in climate disaster mitigation and clean-up.
The negative health impacts of fossil fuel extraction and industrial operations disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of colour, who are more likely to be incarcerated. In California, incarcerated workers are assigned as firefighters, placing them on the frontlines of the climate crisis and exposing them to hazardous conditions. The prison system's lack of urgency in protecting its population during environmental disasters, such as Hurricane Ida, further endangers the health and safety of incarcerated individuals.
The annual cost of the health impacts of fossil fuel-generated electricity in the United States is estimated to be up to $886.5 billion. Phasing out fossil fuels and transitioning to renewable energy sources are crucial steps in reducing the health risks associated with fossil fuel extraction and usage, improving the health and well-being of prisoners and communities affected by environmental injustices.
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Prisons are located near industrial operations
Prisons are often located near industrial operations, such as oil and gas extraction sites, refineries, and other petrochemical facilities. For example, in California, prisons are within 2,500 feet of oil and gas extraction sites, exposing prisoners to air pollution and fine particulate matter generated by these industries. This proximity to industrial operations has raised concerns about the health and environmental impacts on incarcerated individuals.
The placement of prisons near industrial operations is not limited to California. In Louisiana, for instance, the Lafourche Parish Work Release program has allowed the oil and gas industry to hire incarcerated workers. These individuals are often assigned to work in industries that fuel climate change, such as cleaning up oil spills or working in offshore drilling. Louisiana has a long history of using captive labor for private profit, and the work release program is marketed as a way to assist incarcerated individuals in transitioning back into the workforce. However, it has been criticized for benefiting private contractors and local companies more than the participants.
The practice of locating prisons near industrial operations and utilizing prison labor for these industries is not unique to Louisiana and California. The prison-industrial complex (PIC) describes the relationships between institutions of imprisonment and the businesses that benefit from them. This includes private prison corporations, companies that supply goods and services to prisons, and corporations that contract cheap prison labor. The expansion of the inmate population in the United States has resulted in economic profit and political influence for these private prisons and companies.
The use of prison labor in industries such as oil and gas has been controversial. On the one hand, it provides incarcerated individuals with work experience and the opportunity to earn wages. On the other hand, it has been criticized as a form of indentured servitude, with private companies benefiting more than the participants. Additionally, the health and safety of incarcerated workers are often overlooked, as seen in California, where vaccination rates among prison staff are low, and sufficient protections from COVID-19 were not provided.
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