UNICOR has existed since 1934. In that time, millions of incarcerated people have passed through its system. What Steven Maurice Moore accomplished with Moore Superior Services — building a $1.8 million per year private business from within federal incarceration — had never been done before in the history of the program. Not once. In over 90 years.

The System

What Is UNICOR?

UNICOR, also known as Federal Prison Industries (FPI), is a government-owned corporation that uses incarcerated people as a labor force to manufacture goods and provide services for federal agencies. From office furniture to military uniforms to call center operations — UNICOR does it all, generating over $900 million in annual revenue.

The workers who power this $900 million machine? They are paid as little as $0.23 per hour. No benefits. No overtime. No choice.

As Seen In

Exposed in Ava DuVernay's 13th

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay brought UNICOR's exploitative labor practices to a global audience in her landmark 2016 Netflix documentary 13th. The film examines how the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — which abolished slavery except as punishment for crime — created a loophole that has been used for over 150 years to perpetuate forced labor through mass incarceration.

UNICOR is a direct product of that loophole. It is modern-day slavery — legally sanctioned, federally operated, and generating nearly a billion dollars a year on the backs of incarcerated Americans.

13th was nominated for an Academy Award and is widely regarded as one of the most important documentaries of the 21st century. If you haven't seen it, watch it on Netflix.

A Survivor Speaks

My Personal Experience with UNICOR

I am not just a critic of UNICOR — I lived it. During and after my period of incarceration, I was put to work through the UNICOR program (as a certified UNICOR installer), installing furniture for federal agencies and departments across the country through my company, Moore Superior Services. I built a $1.8 million per year business from within the system installing systems and case goods office furniture. During a 13 year period, MSS installed office furniture as a primary contractor or offered subcontracting for EVERY U.S department or agency within the federal government except the White House — something that had never been accomplished in UNICOR's 90+ year history. Millions had passed through the program since 1934. I was the first.

But here is what UNICOR did with that historic proof of rehabilitation and entrepreneurial success: they put me out of business.

Rather than hold me up as a poster child for what incarcerated people can accomplish — a living, breathing example that rehabilitation works — UNICOR viewed my thriving private business as a competitive threat to their other contractors. The system that was supposed to prepare people for reentry into society instead crushed the very success it should have celebrated.

Ignored at Every Level

I Spoke. They Listened. Nothing Changed.

I didn't just suffer in silence. I took my story directly to the people in power. I spoke before the UNICOR Board of Directors — the very governing body responsible for overseeing the program — and laid out my experience in full. I also personally sent my story to Steve Schwalb, the CEO of UNICOR at the time, detailing what I had built, what had been taken from me, and what my historic success could mean as a model for rehabilitation.

Both ignored it. My accomplishment — unprecedented in the program's entire history — was dismissed. I gained nothing — no recognition, no restitution, no reform. Not even an acknowledgment.

That silence speaks louder than any speech. It confirms what Congressman Hoekstra said before Congress, what Ava DuVernay showed the world in 13th, and what I know from lived experience: UNICOR is not designed to rehabilitate. It is designed to profit. And anyone who proves otherwise becomes a problem to be eliminated, not a success story to be celebrated.

Taken to Congress

Congressman Hoekstra Speaks Before Congress

My story didn't stay behind prison walls. The Office Furniture Dealers Alliance (OFDA) — a coalition of private sector office furniture businesses — was established in direct response to UNICOR's stranglehold on the federal marketplace. UNICOR's mandatory source status required federal agencies to purchase from UNICOR before buying from any private business, regardless of price or quality. This policy was devastating legitimate companies across the country.

Congressman Pete Hoekstra took the fight to the floor of the United States Congress, speaking in defense of removing UNICOR's mandatory ordering status — and he used my business, Moore Superior Services, as a direct example. My case was cited as evidence that UNICOR is not in the business of rehabilitation. It is in the business of making money — at the expense of incarcerated workers, private businesses, and the very promise of a second chance.

I built something real. I proved what was possible. I did what no one in UNICOR's history had ever done. And the system dismantled it — not because I failed, but because I succeeded too well.

The Bigger Picture

Why This Matters

• UNICOR has operated since 1934 — millions have passed through its system
• Steven Moore is the only person in UNICOR history to build a $1.8M/year private business from within the program
• UNICOR generates $900+ million annually using prison labor paid pennies per hour
• Its mandatory source status forced federal agencies to buy from UNICOR over private businesses
• The OFDA was formed specifically to fight UNICOR's anti-competitive practices
• Congressman Hoekstra cited Steven Moore's business before Congress as proof UNICOR prioritizes profit over rehabilitation
• Steven spoke before the UNICOR Board of Directors and directly to CEO Steve Schwalb — and was ignored
• Ava DuVernay's 13th exposed this system to the world — but the system continues

The Full Story

Read Still I Rise: A Father's Truth

The complete account of survival, resilience, and a father's fight — from inside the system and out.

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