UMD purchased $4.3 million of furniture made with prison labor in 2022, public records show
University lounge furniture located in Cumberland Hall (Mario Morais/The Black Explosion)
The University of Maryland committed to divesting from prison labor as part of 25 demands made by the university's Black student leaders in June 2020. However, purchase records show that the university continues to buy products from the Maryland Correctional Enterprises (MCE) and last year, purchases totaled $4.3 million. This new documentation calls into question the transparency of the university’s commitment to “continue to study the relationship with Maryland Correctional Enterprises.”
MCE supplies furniture to this university’s dorms, dining halls, and academic facilities. These products are produced by inmates in the Maryland Department of Public Services and Corrections (DPSCS).
“MCE’s program participants are appreciative of the opportunity they have to learn a skill, reduce idle time, and earn discretionary income,” said DPSCS Spokeswoman Latoya Gray in a statement to the Black Explosion.
Gray also noted that participants can reduce their sentence by four months for every year of successful program completion.
Last year, departments throughout the university made several purchases from MCE. University Residence Facilities purchased $738,385.50 in furniture in 2022. Dining Services purchased $181,468 worth of furniture, which Director of Marketing and Communications for Dining Services Bart Hipple confirmed now furnishes Yahentamitsi Dining Hall.
In 2021, the university created a dashboard that tracks the progress of its commitment to “divest from the Maryland Correctional Enterprises, as well as businesses and companies invested in it, and the prison industrial complex,” along with other demands. The last update on the demand was in August of 2022.
The Black Explosion made several attempts to identify the parties involved and actions taken to address calls to divest from MCE before the university marked this demand as “complete.” The Office of the President did not provide information as to the steps they took to address the demand but instead provided a statement.
"In accordance with Maryland state law and the University System of Maryland Procurement Policies and Procedures, all University of Maryland furniture must be purchased from Maryland Correctional Enterprises (MCE) unless a waiver is requested and granted by MCE,” read the statement. “Changes to these laws and policies cannot be made by the University of Maryland.”
Records show that the university has attempted to request waivers going back to 2020, to purchase from other distributors for certain furniture purchases. However, it is unclear if the use of waivers reflect an official policy change to divest from MCE.
The Black Explosion also attempted to reach state senator Jim Rosapepe, the senator for District 21 which includes the university, to determine whether the university tried to lobby him into changing the current state statute. Rosapepe did not respond to requests for comment.
University officials haven’t clarified what attempts the university made before marking the demand as a “sustained commitment” or what they are currently studying on how to divest from MCE.
Black Terps Matter organizer Saba Tshibaka recently criticized the university’s handling of the demands.
“They’re labeling these things as ‘sustained commitments,’ [or] ‘in-progress,’ in a green box with a checkmark. I think that’s just insane,” said Tshibaka, who graduated from this university in 2021 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. “They are making all students directly benefit from prison labor, and people don’t even know.”
The awareness of the university's connection to prison labor varies between students.
Freshman public health science major Matthew Adjodha said he found out about the university’s connection to MCE through a sociology class where he found a quizlet on the subject.
However, Adjodha says he feels that most students at this university are unaware of the close connection between themselves and prison labor.
“Students don’t even contemplate the labor that goes on right in front of them, so how could they possibly know about prison labor that goes into making these chairs and desks,” Adjodha said.
Kelsey Coleman, the president of this university’s chapter of University Students Against Sweatshop, sees the use of prison labor as the continuation of the legacy of slavery at this university and a target of the organization’s labor movement.
“[Inmates] are producing things for this university and not receiving the same benefits as people who work for this university or university system,” said Coleman, who is a senior Black liberation studies major.
Students' perspective on the solution to this demand is mixed. The USAS president believes that the issue is more nuanced than calling for complete divestment.
“If you look at it on the outside [it’s easy to say] this is a really shi–y thing, we don’t support prison labor, but for people that are on the inside - that is the only way they’re getting paid,” Coleman said. “The commissary is expensive, being able to make phone calls, bail, child support, supporting your family from the inside - all these things cost money, and you don’t stop paying for them.”
However, for Adjodha, the solution to this issue is clear-cut. The university should completely divest from MCE first, the public health major said.
Adjodha also believes that UMD has a responsibility to provide financial reparations to individuals who participate in MCE as part of correcting these injustices.
It’s unclear whether the university will address the issue of divestment, but Black student leaders don’t see the university marking of this issue as ‘complete’ as the end of the conversation.
“I think that demand is really important. It’s one that is for whatever reason controversial, but I see it as modern-day slavery,” Tshibaka said. “There are so many Black people, men, and women, in Maryland that are locked up. I don’t want to have anything to do with that system.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Matthew Adjodha’s last name. This story has been updated.