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I was going to write that that amendment is from the Civil War, before the private prison complex could develop, lobby for, and become dependent on prison labor

I was going to write that that amendment is from the Civil War, before the private prison complex could develop, lobby for, and become dependent on prison labor. But a bit of research showed that prisons were not exactly bastions of human rights in the good old days.

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
You can draw a straight line from the 13th Amendment to the private prisons of today. After all, the southern states whose economy was ruined by the Civil War had to get cheap labor somehow, so they arrested all those former slaves for random bullshit like loitering, had them convicted by all-white juries, and sent them to work in chain gangs. Netflix produced a great documentary about all of this - 13th - and it's well worth the watch.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  Most prison labor occurs at publicly owned and operated institutions. Simply because private prisons hold a small portion of the people incarcerated at a state or federal level.
  - 8note 10y ago
    that's somewhat less interesting than a per capita measure
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      Feel free to figure it out. My point was that the use of prison labor is not limited to private prisons.