Hickman’s Is Being Sold; Public Records Reveal What Came Before.

Public records show how Hickman’s relied on incarcerated women working and living in hazardous conditions long before the bird flu collapse that preceded the sale.

Hickman Family Farms’ decision to sell after more than eight decades of family ownership arrives at a moment when public records obtained by Fourth Estate 48 show how the company weathered earlier crises through practices that placed incarcerated women in hazardous working and living conditions. The bird flu outbreak may have pushed the company toward a sale, but the documents reveal a longer-running story about how Hickman’s operated behind the scenes.