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If a prisoner's work offsets the cost of them being in prison, then there is an incentive for the system to have prisoners.

• spc476 2y ago
  "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." -- U.S. Constitution, Amendment 13.
  • mulmen 2y ago
    The 13th Amendment doesn’t change incentives. The existence of amendments proves that the Constitution can evolve.
  • bediger4000 2y ago
    The "except as a punishment for crime" is why we have prison labor at all, isn't it? There's enough (exceptionally cheap) prison labor that local (county level) effects are measurable: https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/the-lasting-harm-of-convict-labor https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/the-lasting-...
• mschuster91 2y ago
  Enforce paying prisoners fair-market wages. That, in addition to providing prisoners with funds so they can start with at least some amount of money when they're released (many will face many months if not years searching for a job that will take them!), also prevents the government from using slave labor to undercut prices of, say, fire prevention crews. And from these fair wages, deduct the rent of an average single-bedroom apartment.