PETA objects to felons processing poultry

I would recommend that list members who are active in the animal rights struggle contact PETA and object to their vilification of prisoners. I spoke with their media rep and pointed out the bigger issue is prisoners being used for unsafe work at slave wages. He tried equating jail work release prisoners with serial killers.

Paul Wright, Editor

Prison Legal News

972 Putney Rd. # 251

Brattleboro, VT 05301

802-257-1342

pwright@prisonlegalnews.org

www.prisonlegalnews.og

Seattle Office:

Prison Legal News

2400 NW 80th St. # 148

Seattle, WA 98117

206-246-1022

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=9308

Plants—Typically Steeped in Animal Abuse—Wrong Place for Violent Criminals, Says Group

For Immediate Release:
December 7, 2006

Contact:
Matt Prescott 757-622-7382

Stillmore, Ga. — This morning, PETA sent an urgent letter to Macon Diversion Center Superintendent William Powell urging him to halt a program that busses convicted felons to the Crider Poultry slaughterhouse in Stillmore. PETA points out that chicken slaughterhouses are notorious for animal abuse and that staffing the plant with violent criminals is begging for violations of Georgia's cruelty-to-animals laws.

Recent PETA investigations have documented widespread cruelty to animals in poultry slaughterhouses—even by normal work forces —including the following:

· Workers at a Pilgrim's Pride plant in Moorefield, W.Va., tore live birds' heads off, spit tobacco into their eyes, and spray-painted their faces.

· Workers at a Tyson slaughterhouse in Heflin, Ala., ripped the heads off live birds and let live birds drown in tanks of scalding-hot water.

· Workers at a Butterball slaughterhouse in Ozark, Ark., stomped on live birds, sat on them, and used them as punching bags, and one worker even sexually assaulted a bird.

Many violent felons have histories of abusing animals, and 19 states prohibit some convicted felons from possessing animals. In PETA's letter—which was also sent to Emanuel County Sheriff J. Tyson Stephens, District Attorney Steve Askew, and Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin—the group recommends that, at the very least, law enforcement authorities should conduct unannounced inspections at the plant.

"Placing animals in the care of convicts with violent histories is like putting children in the care of child molesters," says PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. "When you mix violent criminals with horrible working conditions and hundreds of thousands of animals, it is a foregone conclusion that Georgia's laws against cruelty to animals are going to be violated. Mr. Powell needs to do the right thing and stop this program."

PETA's letter is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA's Web sites ButterballCruelty.com, TorturedByTyson.com, and www.peta.org/feat/moorefield/ .