Cambodia's prisons have garment production all locked up (Cambodian prisoners make clothes for American department stores]

ABC Radio Australia
Updated December 1, 2011

Cambodia's Senate has approved a new prison law that will legalise prison labour and looks likely to encourage more garment factories to be set up inside the country's notoriously corrupt prisons.

The Cambodian Government insists it will enforce a ban on prisoners making goods for commercial use, but rights group doubt that will happen. The news comes as Radio Australia has obtained photographs showing female inmates producing clothing branded with major US labels in prison, despite the American company - Kohl's Department Store - having specific policies outlawing prison labor.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Phay Siphan, spokesman Cambodian Council of Ministers; Phil Robertson, deputy director of Asia for Human Rights Watch; Vicki Shamion, Senior Vice President for Public and Community Relations at Kohl's Department Stores

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