“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
– U.S. Constitution, Amendment 13, Section 1
The passing of the 13th Amendment served as a momentous milestone for the United States, seemingly representing a triumphant victory for liberty and equality. With this Amendment, the institution of slavery, a system built on violence, racial subjugation, and exploitative labor, was finally outlawed — with one exception.
As clearly stated in the Constitution, slavery or involuntary servitude would no longer exist “except as a punishment for crime”. Hidden in plain sight, this loophole opened the door for another system of exploitation to come into place: prison labor. The various shapes and forms that prison labor has taken since the passing of the 13th Amendment function as a continuation of slavery.
Prison labor was first implemented in the form of convict leasing, which capitalized on the influx of new prisoners through “Black Codes”. This set of laws passed by Southern state legislatures promoted the criminalization of African Americans for minor inconveniences such as loitering, breaking curfew, and not carrying proof of employment.
Through convict leasing, states leased prisoners out to private entities such as mining, steel, and railway companies. Although prisoners provided immense value as laborers, they did not earn wages and lived under the same, abject conditions as workers under plantation slavery. Between the years 1877 and 1879, the death rate of prisoners working in railroad companies ranged from 16% in Mississippi, 25% in Arkansas, and 45% in South Carolina.
Fast forwarding to post-Jim Crow America, blatantly racist imprisonment of African Americans through means such as the Black Codes was no longer possible. These social progressions subsequently gave birth to the “law and order” era of politics: a period characterized by a focus on harsher enforcement and punishment to decrease crime.
From the start of the “law and order” era in 1970 to 2000, the incarceration rate grew by about 400%, exponentiating the number of disposable laborers in the prison system. Ultimately, it is this increase in the prison population that has allowed the modern-day system of prison labor to thrive.
The two most prevalent types of work prisoners are subject to today are maintenance labor and industry labor. Maintenance labor, the most common form of prison labor, involves jobs that provide essential services to prisons, ranging from food services to plumbing. On average, these workers earn 13 to 52 cents an hour. According to one conservative estimate in 2004, maintenance jobs performed by prisoners generated a value of almost $9 billion.
On the other hand, industry labor involves non-prison-related jobs such as working for state-owned businesses in agriculture and manufacturing. Through industry labor, prisoners produce goods and services for states that can be later sold to private companies. In 2021 alone, these goods and services nationally amounted to over $2 billion in value. While the average wages of 30 cents to $1.30 an hour for industry labor workers appear generous compared to those in maintenance, the pay still pales in comparison to the official federal minimum wage of $7.25 and leaves prisoners with barely any resources to purchase personal necessities.
Prison laborers are also subject to further methods of dehumanization by prison officials and their working conditions. A recent survey shows that 76% of prisoners reported being forced to work or face punishments such as solitary confinement.
On top of being subject to fear and intimidation tactics from officials, workers also suffer from constant humiliation. In Louisiana State Penitentiary, the fields where incarcerated workers perform agricultural labor are devoid of any restroom facilities or portable toilets. Instead, workers are simply told to relieve themselves on the side of the fields out in the open.
Reflecting on the brutal and inhumane nature of these conditions, Jesus Duran, an incarcerated worker at Centralia Correctional Center in Illinois, states that prisoners like him are “treated like slaves.”
The extent to which prison labor has become intertwined with the daily lives and functions of Americans today is immense, parallel to plantation-based slavery’s impact on America. Major companies and corporate entities ranging from Whole Foods, Starbucks, and McDonalds in the food industry to IBM, AT&T, and Motorola in the tech sector have all utilized and profited from prison labor at some point in time, if not currently continuing to do so. As reflected by its widespread utilization and role, the influence of prison labor will remain unavoidable unless substantial change is enacted.
This long history of prison labor based on economic exploitation and racial oppression reveals that remnants of slavery are kept alive through the unjust practice. It is imperative to recognize that the issue of prison labor serves as just one of many aspects of the broken criminal justice system in the United States. Thus, thoroughly tackling the issues of prison labor requires a deep reevaluation of the very sentiments that have enabled such a system to arise.
Widespread attitudes towards law enforcement, criminology, and education must all be investigated and reassessed. However, amidst the complexities involved in solving this issue, one thing remains certain: the exception clause present within the 13th Amendment must be abolished. It is only then that the United States can abandon the direct continuation of the dark legacy of slavery.
