ATLANTA (AP) 鈥 Herschel Walker campaigns for the U.S. Senate as a champion of free enterprise and advocate for the mentally ill, felons and others at the margins of society. And the Georgia Republican has called for policies that blend those priorities.
鈥淚f someone comes out of prison, they should have incentives set up that the person has learned a trade, and you give an incentive for a company to hire him so he can make a living for himself,鈥 Walker said Aug. 17 in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Walker, who founded Renaissance Man Food Services in 1999 as part of America鈥檚 sprawling food processing industry, then nodded to his business experience. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my responsibility now to help,鈥 Walker declared.
The argument blends several threads of Walker's bid to unseat Sen. , a Democrat, in a marquee matchup that could determine control of the Senate. A former college and professional football star, Walker styles himself as a businessman, unapologetic Christian and someone who has overcome mental health challenges with others' help.
鈥淲e have to become a society that want to help, not hurt anyone,鈥 he said in Kennesaw.
Yet an Associated Press review of federal court cases, alongside other public records and statements, offers a more complicated reality. One instance at the heart of Walker's business portfolio suggests he has benefited, through a firm he touts as a principal partner and supplier, from the unpaid labor of drug offenders routed from state courts to residential rehabilitation programs in lieu of prison.
It鈥檚 not possible to quantify any financial gains Walker might have gleaned over the years from undervalued labor. But some lawyers have derided the operation in question, Oklahoma-based Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery Inc., as a residential 鈥渨ork camp鈥 that profits from a 鈥渧ulnerable workforce under the guise of providing alcohol and drug counseling and rehabilitation services.鈥
CAAIR, as it is commonly known, began more than a decade ago sending residents to work at Simmons Foods Inc., a processing giant that Walker touts as a principal partner and supplier to his distributorship, Renaissance Man Food Services. State judges assigned convicted offenders to CAAIR, giving them a choice between the residential program and its requirements or serving time in conventional jails or prisons. Simmons would then contract with CAAIR for labor at its plants; CAAIR program participants were not paid.
U.S. courts have declared that type of arrangement legal, finding it akin to work programs for fully incarcerated inmates who fall outside the 13th Amendment鈥檚 ban on involuntary servitude 鈥渆xcept as punishment for crime.鈥 But many criminal justice experts are critical of such programs.
鈥淒rug courts are typically a pretrial diversion program,鈥 said Jillian Snider, a former New York City police officer and now policy director for the criminal justice and civil liberties program at R Street, a center-right, free-market think tank based in Washington.
Snider described the ideal design as 鈥渁lmost like an outpatient program鈥 focused on professional counseling and skills training, with some job responsibilities that include wages. Programs based more on work than on rehabilitation and skills training, Snider said, are 鈥渦nique mostly to Southern states. It's just not something you see in the northeast and in the West.鈥
A federal lawsuit, still pending against CAAIR and Simmons, has detailed how some participants were allegedly pressured to work when injured, compelled to attend religious services, and threatened with imprisonment if their work was unsatisfactory.
CAAIR, participants alleged in court, did not always provide necessary rehabilitative or psychiatric treatment, the kind that Walker has emphasized when he shares his personal story and advocates for people suffering from mental illness. CAAIR described its services in court filings as 鈥渁 combination of work therapy and spiritual and religious counseling.鈥
鈥淚f you're working full-time in a chicken facility, you don't have enough hours in the day to complete a full program,鈥 said Snider, explaining that 鈥渢alking to professional counselors鈥 and 鈥渂eing set up with real educational advancement opportunities and skills training鈥 must be included. 鈥淭here's a lot more components than working 12 hours a day cleaning chickens,鈥 she said.
Nonetheless, a trial court judge in 2020 rejected participants鈥 assertions that the program violated federal labor law. CAAIR, the court ruled, remains a permissible component of the state criminal justice system. Participants鈥 appeal is pending.
CAAIR CEO and co-founder Janet Wilkerson told The Associated Press she 鈥渘ever had any dealings鈥 with Walker. She declined to comment further, citing ongoing litigation.
Neither Walker nor Renaissance Man Food Services was named as a defendant in the original suit, and Walker's campaign declined to comment on the matter, saying Simmons is not Walker's company. A Simmons representative did not respond to inquiries.
Yet in Walker's telling, Simmons is critical to his enterprise.
On the Renaissance website, Simmons is the only supplier or partner mentioned by name: 鈥淩MFS joins with Simmons Foods to bring quality poultry, pork and bakery products to the retail and food service marketplace.鈥 The website highlights one of its locations as Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where Simmons is based. The relationship dates back as early as 2006, according to Walker鈥檚 previous statements to media.
Renaissance bills itself as a certified minority owned business 鈥 Walker is Black 鈥 that works with 鈥渟upplier partners to meet the needs of our retail and food service customers.鈥 That suggests a relationship in which Walker partners with food processing firms to act as distributor so that an end-line business is buying from a minority-owned firm. For example, Walker鈥檚 website denotes two 鈥渄iversity supplier鈥 awards from Marriott hotels.
Walker isn't always clear about the size and scope of Renaissance. He's said he employs hundreds of workers, with frequent mentions of a chicken-processing division in Arkansas. Further, he's claimed as much as $80 million in gross sales. But when Renaissance filed federal paperwork to secure loans under the Paycheck Protection Program during the coronavirus pandemic, it reported eight employees. The company received about $182,000 under the program. In another court case, Walker gave far more modest revenue figures, indicating the company averaged about $1.5 million a year in profit from 2008 to 2017.
Walker's exaggerations could simply involve conflating some of Simmons' operations as his own.
His 2022 financial disclosure form submitted to the Senate list Renaissance as paying Walker a $214,062.50 salary. Another business, H Walker Enterprises, brought Walker a $3 million payout as sole shareholder. The website of H Walker Enterprises suggests Renaissance is a subsidiary. State records list the same corporate address in Dublin, Georgia, for both.
Wilkerson established CAAIR with her husband, Don, and others. It bills itself as a faith-based enterprise to rehabilitate addicts. Its programs launched in 2008 with six men, according to its website, and by 2015 housed 200 in three dorms.
Throughout the litigation, Simmons and CAAIR have forcefully defended their practices. But one thing has never been up for dispute: The men CAAIR sent to the chicken plants were not paid.
鈥淐AAIR is a work-based program,鈥 lawyers wrote in their defense. 鈥淧articipants ... are required to perform work without compensation at various nearby work-providers, including Simmons. This requirement is no secret.鈥
In court filings, Wilkerson described drug defendants as 鈥渃lients鈥 rather than employees, and she characterized them as having chosen the program voluntarily after being fully apprised of the parameters.
Participants signed documents stipulating that they 鈥渄id not come to CAAIR, Inc., seeking work,鈥 that CAAIR 鈥渄id not offer (them) a job鈥 and that they would 鈥渘ot receive wages鈥 or other pay for 鈥渕y stay at CAAIR, Inc.鈥 There was one potential exception: They 鈥渕ay be offered a gift package鈥 if they finished the program.
鈥淪immons is a work-provider for CAAIR,鈥 Wilkerson wrote in her court filings. 鈥淪immons pays CAAIR for the work performed by CAAIR participants at a rate well above minimum wage.鈥
Wilkerson described an 鈥渋ntensive interview process鈥 for 鈥渃lients鈥 referred to her program by the courts: 鈥淧rospective clients are required to read and sign paperwork acknowledging their understanding of the program.鈥
The 鈥淎dmission Agreement鈥 promises a residential 鈥減rogram of recovery鈥 including 鈥渋ndividual and group counseling, nourishing foods (and) constructive physical activity which includes work training at a job site,鈥 along with the requirement of 鈥渨orking at a designated job site.鈥 The documents do not name any prospective companies, describe any training participants would receive or detail any labor they would perform.
The agreement included a behavioral code, with the threat of dismissal.
鈥淢inor rules violations鈥 included 鈥渇ailure to maintain a positive attitude,鈥 鈥渇ailure to do assigned chores,鈥 鈥渘ot shaving, showering and brushing your teeth every day,鈥 鈥渘ot being a team player鈥 and 鈥渇ailure to attend ... daily meetings,鈥 including 鈥淏ible study ... 12-step meetings ... small group.鈥
Among the major violations: 鈥渢heft,鈥 鈥渂ringing or using drugs or alcohol,鈥 鈥渋nsubordination,鈥 鈥渉aving money or credit cards on the premises,鈥 鈥渇ailure to maintain your position at your assigned work provider,鈥 鈥渉orseplay or wrestling at any time,鈥 and 鈥渇raternizing with any females.鈥
Those lists, participants were warned, were 鈥渘ot comprehensive,鈥 and that 鈥渙ther infractions鈥 determined by staff 鈥渕ay also result in disciplinary procedures.鈥 Further, participants agreed to attend church services off premises during their first 12 weeks in residence. That came with a separate code: 鈥淣o sleeping in church. ... Use the restroom before church services start. ... Clients may not ride with family to/from church.鈥
Participants were 鈥渇ree to leave (the program) at any time,鈥 the documents state. But participants signed on to the knowledge that such an action could result in 鈥渃onsequences from the criminal justice system for early departure,鈥 and the documents make clear that 鈥渄isciplinary procedures,鈥 up to and including 鈥渄ismissal from the program鈥 was at CAAIR staff's discretion.
In a separate federal case against another not-for-profit rehabilitation program, Simmons again defended its practices in a 鈥渇riend of the court鈥 brief submitted in 2020 to support DARP Inc.
Citing Simmons鈥 relationship with CAAIR, Simmons lawyers wrote that 鈥淐AAIR operates on the same basic model鈥 as DARP to 鈥減rovide vocational opportunities for those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.鈥 However, Simmons鈥 lawyers said, that鈥檚 not the same as an employee relationship requiring federal labor law protections 鈥 or even compensation.
鈥淧laintiffs participated in DARP for their own benefit and to achieve their own rehabilitation, not for the benefit of DARP鈥 or any for-profit firm, the brief states. The lawyers said unpaid laborers receive a benefit beyond money: 鈥渁 sense of self-worth and accomplishment.鈥
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