Bloomberg Used Prison Labor To Make Election calls

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Billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign said it didn’t know a third-party vendor used prison labor to make calls on behalf of his candidacy, adding that it canceled its contract with the subcontractor after a reporter at the Intercept first asked about the practice.

The Intercept reported Tuesday that inmates at a minimum-security women’s prison in Oklahoma were making calls on behalf of Bloomberg, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The campaign hired a third party vendor which in turn contracted New Jersey call center ProCom to handle campaign calls, according to the Intercept. ProCom operates two call centers inside state prisons, one of which was used to make Bloomberg calls.

It is unclear how much the incarcerated women were paid, according to the Intercept, but they could be making as little as $20 per month.

After the Intercept flagged the matter, Bloomberg spokesperson Julie Wood told the outlet, “We didn’t know about this and we never would have allowed it if we had. We don’t believe in this practice and we’ve now ended our relationship with the subcontractor in question.”

Neither the Bloomberg campaign nor ProCom immediately responded to a request for comment from Forbes.
Chief critics: Alex Friedman, managing editor of Prison Legal News, told the Intercept that Bloomberg is still responsible even if the campaign didn’t know ProCom was using prison labor. “Shouldn’t you have some idea of your supply stream, or what your downside supply stream is doing?” he said.

Rival candidate Julian Castro highlighted his criminal justice reform plan in response to the Intercept story. “My criminal justice plan calls for closing private prisons and paying fair wages to incarcerated individuals. A concern for people, not profits, should govern our criminal justice policy,” he tweeted.

Key background: According to Forbes, Bloomberg’s net worth is $52 billion, making him the wealthiest candidate in the Democratic primary field. Bloomberg cofounded financial information and media company Bloomberg LP in 1981 and was formerly the mayor of New York City.

Bloomberg is entirely self-funding his campaign, and is already on track to spend more than other candidates on television ads and staff hires. Progressive candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have criticized the billionaire for using his vast wealth to sway the election in his favor.