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I guess section 1 of the 13th amendment to the us constitution is:

"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."

Which literally allows for slavery if convicted.

source: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=us%20constitution%2013...

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Right. And it’s precisely that systemic capital incentive to convict more citizens of crime that is so contentious. It’s not a simple matter to navigte, and varying in different government organizations, but a few things remain true:

1) Ending prison labor, or giving equal pay to prisoners, would negate the incentive outright.

2) Privatization of corrections facilities further complicates the matter, raising the incentives for unethical behavior.

So, there is a clear cut ethical path here. It just has a smaller profit margin. Nothing new.

Equal pay would likely make labor programs like this infeasible since there are overhead costs, like the feeding, housing, and guarding of prisoners. Those costs are not present for regular employees / volunteers.

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