About The Work Release
The Work Release is Beyond the Bars’ bimonthly publication about work, incarceration, and worker power.
We report on the systems that determine who gets access to good jobs, who gets locked into bad ones, and who has the power to change the rules. Our focus is on workers with criminal records and the industries and institutions that shape their working lives—from temporary staffing in construction to prison labor corporations.
We write from Florida, with lessons for workers and organizers everywhere. Our north star is simple: dignity, safety, and real opportunity at work.
What we cover
Work after incarceration. How criminal records, probation, supervision, and other barriers shape workers’ access to jobs, wages, and careers.
The industries that profit from precarity. How temporary staffing, construction, prison labor, and other industries are structured—and who benefits.
Worker organizing. Stories from workers building power on job sites, in unions, in their communities, and at the Capitol.
Research and strategy. Plain-language analysis of the policies, business models, and power structures shaping work—and the organizing strategies that can change them.
Our approach
Start with workers. We pair worker testimony and experience with public records, original research, data, and reporting.
Follow the power. We look beyond individual employers or bad actors to understand the systems, incentives, and institutions that determine conditions at work.
Make research useful. We write in plain language and translate research into information organizers and advocates can actually use.
Community guidelines
Come curious and in good faith. Protect people’s privacy. No harassment or doxxing. Moderation decisions are made to keep this space constructive and protect people directly affected by the issues we cover.
