Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said prison laborers would be brewing hand sanitizer for the state during the coronavirus outbreak, but prison workers claim that's not the case.
Prison workers at Great Meadow Correctional Facility, the facility Cuomo said would be making its own hand sanitizer, told Vice News they were actually taking pre-made hand sanitizer and pouring it into bottles labeled with the “New York State Clean” brand.
A representative for the New York Department of Corrections told the outlet the hand sanitizer was coming from an outside vendor but declined to identify it.
Cuomo announced during a March 9 news conference that he would be using prison labor to make the hand sanitizer because coronavirus-related shortages made it cheaper for the state to make it's own. He bragged about the high alcohol content in the disinfectant and said the state was adding a unique floral scent."We are problem solvers," Cuomo said. "And there is price gouging on hand sanitizer and a high demand for hand sanitizer. What do you do? Make your own hand sanitizer? Can you do that?"
Instead, one prisoner who asked to remain anonymous, said workers are manning a nozzle to fill gallon-sized bottles with the state's logo rather than producing the product itself. The state did not return Vice News's requests for comment when asked how it was cheaper to have prisoners rebrand the hand sanitizer.
When Cuomo first announced the use of prison labor to combat the coronavirus, he was condemned by some Democrats who found the policy to be exploitative.
“Wow. Considering that many incarcerated men & women are subjected to inhumane conditions, including no hand soap, & hand sanitizer is banned in most prisons, this is especially demeaning, ironic & exploitive," said Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
