After every Buckeye football game at Ohio Stadium, The Ohio State University exploits incarcerated Ohioans to process waste at unfair wages. Contracted through the Southeastern Correctional Institute, inmates earning roughly $0.47 per hour or 6% of Ohio minimum wage enable single-stream recycling for the Zero Waste at Ohio Stadium program - heralded as "the largest stadium in the country to continuously achieve zero waste status." 

The Ohio State University and Department of Athletics tirelessly voice their commitment to racial and economic justice. But in stark contrast, Buckeye leadership continues to cultivate and celebrate the use of imprisoned labor - aggressively expanding the system beyond Game Day to other events, facilities, and campuses. 

For over 150 years, the prison-industrial complex has capitalized on a loophole in the 13th amendment to exploit incarcerated people, which disproportionately affects Black Americans. This amendment, ratified in 1865, banned slavery of all forms, “except as a punishment for crime.” The immediate void in the labor market manipulated the criminal justice system into the primary mechanism to oppress and exploit Black people and other people of color for involuntary labor without proper compensation.

A recycling program can not come at the cost of human rights. We ask that The Ohio State University - and entire University System of Ohio - immediately cease any and all exploitation of incarcerated labor.

Click here to learn about how Ohio State exploits prison labor