Shannon Brandao on LinkedIn: Chinese prisoner’s ID card apparently found in lining of Regatta coat
The Guardian [excerpt]: An ID card that appears to belong to a Chinese #prisoner was found inside the lining of a coat from the British #brand #Regatta…
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From the article: "The Guardian [excerpt]: An ID card that appears to belong to a Chinese #prisoner was found inside the lining of a coat from the British #brand #Regatta, raising concerns that the #clothing was manufactured using prison #labour.

The waterproof #women’s #coat was bought online by a woman in Derbyshire in the #BlackFriday sale. When it arrived on 22 November, she could feel a hard rectangular item in the right sleeve, which restricted the movement of her elbow.

After cutting into the coat to remove the item, she discovered what looked like a #prison identification card, with a mugshot of a man apparently in a prisoner’s uniform in front of a height chart, and the name of the prison in #China.

'You don’t expect it from [Regatta]. It’s a #UK brand that’s up there with Next, with M&S, that you put your children in their clothes … and this happens, and it just makes you feel really uneasy and uncomfortable,' said the woman, who does not wish to be named.

The card was found inside a plastic holder embossed with the words: 'Produced by the Ministry of Justice prisons bureau.'

The woman sent Regatta’s customer service agent a photograph of the ID card via the website chat service. The agent replied: 'Wow, that is a first.'

When she asked whether it was a prison ID the agent said: 'No, it is a Chinese work ID, from our factory site over in China. But you are right, it look [sic] like a prison id'. The agent then told the woman to dispose of the ID.

Despite feeling uneasy, the woman disposed of the card and 'thought nothing more of it'. But the company emailed her later that evening asking her to return the ID and coat to the company. The next day, she spoke to several Regatta representatives on the phone.

The company encouraged her to return the ID card, saying that it would replace her original coat – which now has a hole in the sleeve – and send her a new additional coat 'as a gesture of goodwill', she said. The woman declined the offer but retrieved the card from the bin.

Regatta denies that a new coat was offered in exchange for the ID card.

'I don’t feel very comfortable with it … I know it is legal in China, and we have different standards and things like that in the UK, but you still don’t expect prisoners to be making #clothes,' the woman told the Guardian.

...The use of prison labour is ubiquitous in China. China’s prison law states: “Prisons implement the principles of combining punishment and rehabilitation, and combining education and labour for criminals, so as to transform criminals into law-abiding citizens”.

The prison identified on the ID card found in the Regatta coat says on its website that it specialises in clothing production and the processing of electronics components. Prisoners in that province are typically paid 1-1.5 yuan (£0.11-£0.17) an hour, according to local guidelines. The Guardian is not naming the individual or the prison to protect their safety."

#News