Putting aside the cynical jab, as a general principle, there is nothing wrong with putting prisoners to work. There is a difference between chattel slavery and

Putting aside the cynical jab, as a general principle, there is nothing wrong with putting prisoners to work. There is a difference between chattel slavery and indentured servitude. The latter is a perfectly legitimate punishment to pay off the debt to society that justice demands. Why you or others think this is wrong, I don't understand. That's what justice is: paying a debt. When working, at least you aren't just rotting in prison, but contributing to some social good, perhaps even learning a skill. That is one problem with our prisons, the rotting. We throw people into what is a savage factory and forget about them, letting them rot in a nexus of gangs and thugs. Because punishment has three ends, viz., retribution, rehabilitation, and deterrence, work meets all three criteria to one degree or another.