Being in prison is fundamentally coercive, so "optional" is not easy to get, and it's compensated as little as the prisons can get away with (because, again, th

Being in prison is fundamentally coercive, so "optional" is not easy to get, and it's compensated as little as the prisons can get away with (because, again, the prisoners not in a position to negotiate). This produces a perverse incentive: imprison people to acquire a population that will work for peanuts in terrible condition.