Last spring, student governments in joint session passed Resolution 55-32, which advocates for MU to divest from prison labor. However, the university continues to receive products made by incarcerated offenders through Missouri Vocational Enterprises.
MVE is a program of the Division of Offender Rehabilitative Services within the Missouri Department of Corrections. MVE has 25 different industries and 14 service locations in correctional institutions across Missouri.
“MVE utilizes offender labor, along with supervisors and administrative staff, to provide quality products and services to state agencies and other not-for-profit entities,” MVE’s website states.
The website displays endorsed MU-labeled products including license plates and the gold name tags student organizations use. The Missouri state statutes that established MVE prohibit selling to private individuals and businesses, preventing the Mizzou Store from purchasing and selling the products made by the program. MU must buy products directly from MVE as a result.
Despite the legislation passed last year through MSA and joint session calling for the university to stop using products made by prison labor, MU continues to invest in MVE products.
“There have been no actual changes since the passing of the legislation,” said Social Justice Committee member Sterling Waldman. “A lot of community effort would go into any changes made.”
At MSA’s full Senate meeting Wednesday, the Social Justice Committee announced it will be working to screen the documentary “13TH” to encourage community involvement on the issue.
The film chronicles the history of racial inequality in the United States, as well as examines how the U.S. currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world. A majority of inmates in the U.S. is black.
The Social Justice Committee aims for the free screening to take place in November, Waldman said. No official date has been set for the screening or any other community involved activities.
A spokesperson for MU did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
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_Edited by Emily Gallion | egallion@themaneater.com_