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> In US constitution, the 13th amendment leaves out only prisoners from slavery clause. It was bit shocking because US constitution essentially says that govern
by zapita 8y ago
> In US constitution, the 13th amendment leaves out only prisoners from slavery clause. It was bit shocking because US constitution essentially says that government can use prisoners just like slaves!
It’s definitely a shocking feature of the constitution. I’ve been wondering lately if it really can be (or has been) used to justify things like forced labor benefiting a for-profit corporation at below the legal minimum wage. The text says “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime...”. Couldn’t one argue that being in prison is the punishment - but working in a corporate sweatshop is additional servitude used not as punishment but as abuse of people already being punished?
- daniel-cussen 8y agoWell, it's antiquated. Back in the day the basics were expensive, so just keeping someone alive who wasn't working to pull his weight was basically unthinkable. If you fed people for nothing, back then, people would commit crimes just for the sake of being imprisoned. But now that food is way cheaper, and so is clothing and shelter (not the real estate and finance component--just the construction), I think the rationale is out of date.