Penal labor in the United States

Part of a series on
Forced labour and slavery
Contemporary Child Labour Child soldiers Conscription Debt Forced marriage Bride buying Child marriage Wife selling Forced prostitution Human trafficking Involuntary servitude Peonage Penal labour Contemporary Africa 21st-century jihadism Sexual slavery Wage slavery
Historical Antiquity Egypt Babylonia Greece Rome Medieval Europe Ancillae Black Sea slave trade Byzantine Empire Kholop Prague slave trade Serfs History In Russia Emancipation Thrall Genoese slave trade Venetian slave trade Balkan slave trade Muslim world Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate Slavery in al-Andalus ‎ Baqt Contract of manumission Bukhara slave trade Crimean slave trade Khazar slave trade Khivan slave trade Ottoman Empire Avret Pazarları Barbary Coast slave trade pirates Sack of Baltimore Slave raid of Suðuroy Turkish Abductions Concubinage history Ma malakat aymanukum Avret Pazarları Harem Abbasid harem Ottoman Imperial Harem Safavid imperial harem Qajar harem Jarya/Cariye Odalisque Qiyan Umm al-walad Circassian slave trade Saqaliba Slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate Slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate Volga Bulgarian slave trade 21st century Atlantic slave trade Bristol Brazil Database Dutch Middle Passage Nantes New France Panyarring Spanish Empire Slave Coast Thirteen colonies Topics and practice Conscription Ghilman Mamluk Devshirme Blackbirding Coolie Corvée labour Field slaves in the United States Treatment House slaves Saqaliba Slave market Slave raiding Child soldiers White slavery Naval Galley slave Impressment Pirates Shanghaiing Slave ship
By country or region Sub-Saharan Africa Contemporary Africa Trans-Saharan slave trade Red Sea slave trade Indian Ocean slave trade Zanzibar slave trade Angola Chad Comoros Ethiopia Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria Seychelles Somalia Somali slave trade South Africa Sudan Zanzibar North and South America Pre-Columbian America Aztec Americas indigenous U.S. Natives United States Field slaves female Contemporary maps partus prison labour Slave codes Treatment interregional Human trafficking The Bahamas Canada Caribbean Barbados British Virgin Islands Trinidad Code Noir Latin America Brazil Lei Áurea Colombia Cuba Haiti revolt Restavek (Encomienda) Puerto Rico East, Southeast, and South Asia Human trafficking in Southeast Asia Bhutan Brunei China Booi Aha Laogai penal system India Debt bondage Chukri System Indonesia Japan comfort women Korea Kwalliso Malaysia Maldives Slavery in the Mongol Empire Thailand Yankee princess Vietnam Australia and Oceania Australia Human trafficking Blackbirding Slave raiding in Easter Island Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea Blackbirding in Polynesia Europe and North Asia Sex trafficking in Europe United Kingdom Penal Labour Slavery Denmark Dutch Republic Germany in World War II Malta Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Spain Sweden North Africa and West Asia Afghanistan Algeria Bahrain Egypt Human trafficking in the Middle East Iran Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman Palestine Saudi Arabia Syria Tunisia Qatar Yemen United Arab Emirates
Religion Bible Christianity Catholicism Mormonism Islam Judaism Baháʼí Faith
Opposition and resistance Abolitionism U.K. U.S. Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference 1889–90 Temporary Slavery Commission 1926 Slavery Convention Committee of Experts on Slavery Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery Abolitionists Anglo-Egyptian Slave Trade Convention Anti-Slavery International Blockade of Africa U.K. U.S. Colonization Liberia Sierra Leone Compensated emancipation Freedman Manumission Freedom suit Slave Power Underground Railroad songs Slave rebellion Slave Trade Acts International law Third Servile War 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom Abolition of slave trade in Persian gulf [fa]
Related Common law Indentured servitude Forced labour Fugitive slaves laws convention Great Dismal Swamp maroons List of slaves owners last survivors of American slavery List of slavery-related memorials and museums Slave marriages in the United States Slave narrative films songs Slave name Slave catcher Slave patrol Slave Route Project breeding court cases Washington Jefferson J.Q. Adams Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation 40 acres Freedmen's Bureau Iron bit Emancipation Day
v t e

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Penal labor in the United States is the practice of using incarcerated individuals to perform various types of work, either for government-run or private industries. Inmates typically engage in tasks such as manufacturing goods, providing services, or working in maintenance roles within prisons. Prison labor is legal under the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.^[1]

Prison labor in the U.S. generates significant economic output.^[2] Incarcerated workers provide services valued at $9 billion annually and produce over $2 billion in goods.^[3][4][5] The system has undergone many transitions since the late 19th century: the Hawes-Cooper Act of 1929 imposed restrictions on the interstate trade of prison-made goods, and the establishment of the Federal Prison Industries (FPI) in 1934 helped expand prison labor during the Great Depression.^[6] In 1979, the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) was introduced,^[7] allowing inmates to work in private sector jobs. Under this program, inmates can earn market wages, which may be used for taxes, victim compensation, family support, and room and board. The program was approved by Congress in 1990 for indefinite continuation, permitting the transport of prison-made goods across state lines.^[8][9]

Firms in industries such as technology and food have received tax incentives for contracting prison labor, often at lower-than-market rates.^[10] The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) grants employers $2,400 for every work-release employed inmate.^[11] "Prison in-sourcing" has become an alternative to outsourcing work to countries with lower labor costs. Companies such as Whole Foods, McDonald's, Target, IBM, and others participated in prison in-sourcing during the 1990s and 2000s.^[12] Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Federal Prison Industries was prioritized for federal purchases of replacement goods, such as office furniture, damaged in the riots.^[13]

Penal labor is permitted under the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits slavery except as a punishment for a crime where the individual has been convicted.^[1] The courts have held that detainees awaiting trial cannot be forced to work.^[14] However, convicted criminals who are medically able to work are typically required to do so in roles such as food service, warehouse work, plumbing, painting, or as inmate orderlies.^[15] According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, inmates earn between 12-40 cents per hour for these jobs, which is below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.^[15] There has been proposals of ideas to help incarcerated workers obtain better wages & improved working conditions through unionizing prison labor.

Penal labor in the United States is controversial. Critics argue that prison labor exploits incarcerated individuals, and that the practice prioritizes profits for corporations and reduces labor costs at the expense of rehabilitation.^[16] On the other hand, supporters of prison labor argue it teaches inmates valuable job skills, reduces recidivism, and helps incarcerated persons reenter society with better prospects.^[17]