In The news
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Advocates urge Disney to investigate alleged use of prison labor to make character balloons (Dec 3, 2025)
That $45 jumbo Mickey Mouse balloon you bought for your kid may have been produced by prison labor for pennies on the dollar.
BY: McKenna Schueler
The Orlando Weekly
How prisons and temp agencies exploit the most vulnerable workers (Dec 1, 2025)
“Historically, temp workers and prison labor… [have] been used to bust union strikes,” Katherine Passley of Beyond the Bars says. “Well, what would it look like if we were to bring those people into the union so that they can’t bust these union efforts?”
BY: Mansa Musa
The Real News Network
Florida workers with criminal records trapped by temp agencies, report finds (Nov 18, 2025)
Former prisoners feel ‘disposable’ after being driven to accept jobs that often pay lower wages and have no benefits
BY: Michael Sainato
The Guardian
Dark Work: Precarious Labor and the Southern Economy (Oct 24, 2025)
Across the South, working-class Black and Brown workers are pushed into the most dangerous, unstable corners of the labor market, temp jobs, day labor, domestic work, and other forms of contingent employment. This session will explore how Southern labor and racial regimes intersect to produce and exploit “dark work,” and how workers are organizing at that intersection to demand dignity, safety, and power.
BY: Beyond the Bars, Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, United Southern Service Workers
Southern Worker Assembly
America is built on prison labor. When will the labor movement defend prisoners? (Jul 28, 2025)
“Incarcerated workers are a part of the working class,” award-winning journalist Kim Kelly says. And we are “not telling the real history of labor in this country if [we’re] not focusing on the organizing efforts and the labor of people who are in prison.”
BY: Mansa Musa
The Real News Network
Worker advocates manage to kill Florida bill that would have eliminated labor protections for temp workers. (May 6, 2025)
These formerly incarcerated temp workers took on the most powerful lobbyist in the state and won.
BY: McKenna Schueler
Orlando Weekly
From Permanent Precarity to Permanent Power (May 1, 2025)
At Beyond the Bars, we see what others refuse to see: the talent, discipline and vision of the criminalized working class.
BY: Katherine Passley
In These Times
Building Bridges and Erasing Jail Debt: Katherine Passley (May 1, 2025)
The winner of our Labor Organizer of the Year Award co-runs a member-led worker center in Miami for people with criminal records and their families — the first organization of its kind in the country.
BY: Kim Kelly
In These Times
Florida Republican doubles down on false claim that Florida has state OSHA (Apr. 22, 2025)
“Us working Floridians are not to be used and abused. We deserve to know what's being taken from our pay, to have temp-to-permanent opportunities, and to have chairs to sit on,” said Davonte, a temp worker and member of Beyond the Bars, speaking to senators on the Senate Fiscal Policy committee last week.
BY: McKenna Schueler
Orlando Weekly
Editorial: For Florida’s working poor, a very rare victory in Tallahassee (Apr. 19, 2025)
A rare and surprising thing happened at the state Capitol on Thursday, as a Senate committee suddenly shelved a bill that could do serious harm to the people near the bottom of the economic ladder in Florida. They are day laborers who struggle to find work through labor pools and temporary employment agencies, showing up as early as 3 a.m. to seek low-wage work such as removing construction debris in hopes of earning $70 or $80 a day.
BY: Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Boards
Orlando Sentinel
San Francisco Expands Free Jail Communications by Adding Tablet Services (Jan. 8, 2024)
In Miami, Beyond the Bars has concentrated on tackling fee elimination in the jails… For instance, they’ve successfully advocated for the county to get rid of a $2 daily fee that pushed inmates into debt and commit to providing free 90-minute phone calls each day for people in jail. The group is currently working to reintroduce in-person visitation in the jails to ensure that incarcerated people and their families aren’t only able to see their loved ones through a screen.
BY: Kelena Thomhave
BOLTS
Expanding Labor’s Reach into Carceral Reform (Nov. 19, 2024)
Join us for a conversation with Maya Ragsdale about anti-carceral unionism, cross-movement solidarity, and the political economy of prison labor.
BY: Systemic Justice Project
Harvard Law School
How Miami-Dade County Led on Local Fee Elimination (Apr. 23, 2024)
Beyond the Bars advocates and local policymakers from Miami-Dade discuss how they eliminated jail fees, jail phone call fees and wiped out $100 million in jail debt.
BY: Fines & Fees Justice Center
Fines & Fees Justice Center
Meet a new crop of superstars: young alumni who are crushing it. (Sep. 15, 2023)
The annual 5 Under 35 awards take place Tuesday morning on campus. All are invited to come meet Panthers making their alma mater proud.
BY: Daniel Molina
Florida International University
No more $100 ankle monitors as Miami-Dade ends inmate fees in county jails. (Apr. 2, 2024)
When implemented later this year, legislation that passed Tuesday, April 2, 2024, will make Miami-Dade County’s jail system fee free. Inmates would only be paying for extras, such as snacks and additional phone calls, but will not face mandatory fees for booking or home-release ankle monitors.
BY: Douglas Hanks
Miami Herald
Grant awardees address inequities, promote racial justice. (Oct. 14, 2022)
Exposing the Expansive and Racially Disproportionate Reach of Mass Incarceration in Miami-Dade County teams University students with the organization Beyond The Bars to conduct a canvassing pilot that raises awareness of mass incarceration in Miami-Dade County.
BY: Michael Malone
News @ The U
Fla. county jails slash prices of phone calls for inmates (Nov. 9, 2021)
Starting this month, phone calls are now about 5 cents per minute, down from 14 cents
BY: David Ovalle
Miami Herald