If you thought slavery was outlawed in America, you would be wrong. The 13th amendment to the Constitution states that "...Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction ? ."
In plain language what that means is slavery in America can still exist for those who are in a prison, where you basically lose all of your rights. (You don?t gain a lot of your rights back when you get out of prison, either, but that is a different story.) So, given the country?s penchant for rapacious capitalism, it may not come as a surprise that there is much of the American prison system that exploits American prisoners much like slaves.
In fact there is large scale exploitation in American prisons which benefit American corporations and the military?industrial complex.
Perhaps you are not familiar with UNICOR, better known as Federal Prison Industries? It?s a federal government-owned corporation that employs inmates, for as little as 23 cents per hour, to provide a wide range of products and services under the guise of a ?jobs training program? that in theory is supposed to give inmates skills that will prepare them for the workforce upon release.
Continued 23 Cents an Hour? The Perfectly Legal Slavery Happening in Modern Day America | Alternet
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