World

Slave Labor Office Supplies

March 1, 2001 / 8:44 AM EST / AP

A Chinese corporation pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to charges that millions of office supplies it shipped to the United States were made by prison inmates.

Customs officials said it was the first criminal conviction of a Chinese company in a prison labor case. Most of the laborers at the Nanjing Detention Center were imprisoned as prostitutes, federal officials said.

Through its attorney, Allied International Manufacturing Stationary Co. of Nanjing admitted that at least 134 million office binder clips shipped to the United States had been assembled by 60 prisoners.

The company agreed to a $50,000 fine. Owner Peter Chen, 56, pleaded guilty to a tax evasion charge. He faces five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Chen's manufacturing business in Nanjing shipped the materials to another business he owned in New Jersey.

Chen, who owned the company with his wife, remained free on $500,000 bail.

Federal officials said seizures by customs agents had ultimately forced the company to shut down the binder factory. The prison was one of the factory's subcontractors.

According to court records, the company turned to prison labor in 1995 after its American customers demanded more of the binders. The prison labor continued until May 1997. It stopped after a television program on the factory, according to court papers.

U.S. law forbids importing goods made by prison or forced labor and was designed to curb human rights abuses and to protect U.S. businesses and laborers from unfair competition.