Considering the rise of convict leasing programs across the south after the passing of the 13th amendment, I’d say there was very little difference.
You use something that was ended (because people thought it was wrong!) nearly a century ago as supporting evidence for what exactly?
Now the prisoners can get paid some wages in return for labor, in a mostly voluntary labor system.
Unlike the CCP, every inmate had a trial and was found guilty of some crime, and is now repaying their debt to society - as it were.
What did the million Muslims in the article get convicted of in China? Being Muslims? What about the Uyghurs? So now they are slaves for the rest of their lives...