This looks like blatant exploitation, and if there is no compensation in form of extra food, money or whatever is needed in a prison, it's even double-exploitation as these men are being treated like soulless robots. They may have committed heinous crimes to land in prison, but according to our morally based judicial system, they are supposed to be able to pay off their guilt by losing their freedom, not by being exploited as workers.
Female child coal miner in UK
Awful work conditions have been the fate of many men and women in the past, and we know they at the same time have been exploited in other ways, which robs them of their humanity. Sexual abuse may be part of the exploitation without being reported. Loads of everyday cruelties in work conditions may have gone unnoticed and thus unrecognized as what they are. They should have been kept in historical documents, kept for younger generations to see and learn from, but weren't.
This incident was such a shock to me to read about that I lost every respect for Amazon, I've ever had. As it is, some of my books with Author House and a couple of my minor translations are still on Amazon, but they were put there by the publishers, not by me, the author or translator, and there isn't really anything I can do about it. That said, I suppose I might delete my profile, but I've chosen not to do so, as I want to keep an eye on what's going on at the platform. However, I decided not to publish new books with Amazon, although I've some ready for publishing because of the incident with the worker dying on the floor. By this callous treatment of a worker, Amazon sort of robbed him of his human qualities, but the obvious point is that he was a HUMAN who deserved more than this.
Amazon has been targeted as an awful working place even before this incident, and the fact that nothing seems to happen to better conditions is a WARNING SIGNAL that should not go unnoticed. I bet many other working places are doing what Amazon does, and it reminds me of the fable of the frog on the stove: Sitting in a bowl of water it feels quite comfortable, and it dosn't even move when then water is getting warmer. Unfortunately for the frog, it stays put, until the water is boiling, and then it's too late to jump out into safety ....
https://novaramedia.com/2026/04/16/amazon-employees-made-to-load-trucks-around-dying-colleague/
Wikipedia
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