Many faces of coercive labor. In the case of Thailand we have people beaten and killed constantly to bring products more cheaply to our corporations such as Walmart and Safeway (basically if it comes from SE Asia and its seafood - it is likely largely driven by slave labor.

Then we have undocumented workers. The conditions many of these work in are similar. American agriculture.

Then we have conflict regions and child labor, India, China, DRC, etc - affecting electronics in particular. 

Then there is prison labor here in the US. A prisoners sentance is increased by 30 to 50% if they refuse to work in prison (plus getting no income to buy from the prison store, the only source of stamps, ability to communicate (pay phones), food other than prison food which is often nearly inedible. Therefore it is forced labor. When I say increased one could reverse it and say it is reduced, but since it is structural to the whole system we can't view it as reduced for working, but rather increased for not working. Additionally this allows the prison system to make prisoners perform far reaching acts of submission, as the prison staff allways keep some structural unemployment in the prison to torture psychologically the prisoners. Prisoners often do not recieve jobs unless they are at one location for at least 6 months, as the beauracracy is extremely slow, and prisoners are often transferred two or three times, as well as returning to court. In this way ironically people with the shortest sentences often have the most difficulty getting jobs, in essence favoring more serious offendors. With 2 million people in prison. The companies using prison labor are now a significant part of the US economy. They spend 50 million a year on lobbying for harsher sentences and greater exploitation.

In addition of course the irony that Blacks and hispanics are dispropotionately jailed means that it is a modern form of slavery.

According to one article a slave in the globalized slave system where 27 million people are classified as slave laborers is now 95% cheaper to buy than back when slavery was legal.

Horrifyingly when you put all this together buying ethical products made with transparent supply chains is the only way to reduce your reliance on slavery. You won't be able to get rid of using slaves.

What companies use prison labor child labor and slave labor?

Electronics, Banking, Apparal, Food, Furniture. Etc. What companies? B of A, Fidelity, Microsoft, Apple Verizon, ATT etc.

What to do about it: