U.S. Prisoners Build Missile Parts for Raytheon and Lockheed to Sell Abroadallgov.comInmates in American prisons have come a long way from the days of making license plates. Nowadays, prisoners are helping build missiles and other sophisticated weapons, and providing dirt-cheap labor in the process.
While earning as little as 23 cents an hour—and no more than $1.15—inmates assemble electronic components for the Patriot missile, which has been used by the U.S. military and sold to allies like Israel, Egypt, Kuwait and Taiwan . The use of prisoners employed by Unicor, a government-owned corporation formerly known as the Federal Prison Industries, saves the makers of the Patriot, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, a lot of money on labor costs.
Unicor inmates also have contributed work to the building of the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F-15 fighter, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s Cobra helicopter and BAE Systems’ Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Prisoners used to make helmets for the military, until 44,000 of them had to be recalled for shoddy quality.
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