smokehard

Forget sweatshops employing kids to make shit. In Japan, its all about making Prisoners make shit. According to CNN, cotton aprons, tote bags and pouches manufactured by Hakodate Juvenile Prison are selling so well in Japan, that many of the items are sold out. Each of the many items for sale carry the prisons logo; which seems to be why they are popular with young hipsters.

According to the article, although the “brand” was launched in 2006, it wasn’t until this year that it caught on.

The line’s popularity suddenly picked up last year when a government-backed corrections association began to carry the logo at its Tokyo outlet store, said Shoji Nakajima, an official at the Correctional Association for Prison Industry Cooperation.

Your nation isn’t hyper-capitalist or maniacly consumerist until you have outlet stores exclusively stocking products made in prison.

The association also sells hundreds of other items, ranging from furniture and portable shrines to tea cups and green tea, produced by more than 81,000 inmates at 70 Japanese prisons as part of compulsory prison labor.

Many inmates are assigned to unskilled labor such as assembling shopping bags and envelopes, but Nakajima said he hoped Hakodate’s success can be a good lesson for other prisons to become more creative.

Yes, and because the inmates don’t get paid, the sky is the limit. Forget cheap labor in China, if the labor shortage in Japan continues, Japan could simply follow the US’ lead and start making everything and anything illegal, thus swelling the ranks of those who are in prison. Want prison drawn tentacle pron? Crave some prison staged bukkake? On the look out for Hello Kitty Jail Bait videos? They are all COMING SOON to your local prison labor outlet store.

Oh, just out of curiosity. Would you drink green tea made by prison inmates? I sure as hell would NOT.