A US-based holding company and investment firm. Its subsidiary Shaw Industries uses prison labor. Other subsidiaries provide equipment, utilities, and uniforms to prison and jail authorities.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc., headquartered in Omaha, Neb., is a holding company and investment management firm. It has over 60 wholly owned subsidiaries and holds a minority stake in dozens of other companies that operate in the insurance, railroad, utilities and energy, industrial, building, apparel, and service and retail business sectors. The company’s subsidiaries include well-known companies such as Benjamin Moore, Dairy Queen, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, GEICO, Jordan’s Furniture, Pampered Chef, and See’s Candies.
Shaw Industries Group, a Georgia-based Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary that manufactures and distributes carpet and flooring products, uses prison labor. As of 2019, the company operates at least five factories inside prisons in South Carolina and Tennessee, including at the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex, Northeast Correctional Center, Perry Corrections Department, and Tyger River Correctional Institute. These factories were formerly operated by another company, Anderson Hardwood Floors, which was acquired by Shaw Industries in 2007.
Shaw Industries’ prison labor programs operate under the guidelines of the federal Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP), which means the company can sell its prison-made products anywhere in the United States. Shaw Industries sells through retail stores, such as Costco and The Home Depot. While the U.S. Department of Justice claims that PIE-certified prison labor programs do not “displace employed workers in the community,” Shaw Industries reportedly fired 120 employees who worked in a South Carolina factory and transferred to nearby prison labor programs.
Shaw Industries violated Canadian trade laws by shipping its prison-made products to Canada. In 2012, after 15 years of selling Anderson Hardwood Floors’ prison-made flooring in Canada, and five years after Berkshire Hathaway acquired Anderson, the company stated that it only “recently learned that [its] importing into Canada of goods that are manufactured utilizing prison labor is prohibited by Canadian law.” Shaw Industries may have also violated U.S. law by not clearly labeling the products it exported as made in prisons. The company did not respond to allegations that it violated U.S. law but stopped “all shipments of product with any [Anderson Hardwood Prison Industries Program] content into Canada.”
Other Berkshire Hathaway companies provide U.S. prisons and jails with furnishings, equipment, and utilities, according to a 2020 Worth Rises report on companies involved in the prison industry. For example, foodservice technology company Marmon Link (formerly 3Wire) and agricultural systems manufacturer CTB contracted with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice between 2012 and 2018. Another subsidiary, electric and gas provider MidAmerican Energy Company, contracted with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections for electric utilities from 2015 to 2018.
GEICO, a Berkshire Hathaway–owned auto insurance company based in Maryland, sponsored the American Probation and Parole Association in 2019. According to the organization, it invites corporations “with an interest in the field of probation, parole, and community corrections'' to become members.
Another Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, Fechheimer Brothers, makes uniforms for the U.S. military, state and federal police agencies, and prison authorities. The company’s Flying Cross and Vertx brands make uniforms that are used by numerous police departments and prison agencies in, for example, San Diego; Minneapolis; Salt Lake City; and Columbus, Ohio. Fechheimer Brothers has also held partnerships with Safariland, a police and military apparel and equipment company that used to provide tear gas grenades to U.S. police agencies and the Israeli military.