Policy Brief: Reworking the 13th Amendment and Providing the Prison Population Fair,
Voluntary Work with Workers’ Rights
Abstract
Beginning with the “tough on crime” policy initiatives in the 1960s paired with the “War on
Drugs,” the United States (U.S.) incarceration rates skyrocketed, far surpassing any other
country. In 2009, there was an increase in population in prisons by 400%, making the U.S.’s
incarcerated population the highest in the world.1 With the increase of the prison population as
well as the 13th amendment, which says that slavery and involuntary servitude exists as
punishment of crime,2 the incarcerated are subjected to working unfair wages for big
corporations. This brief examines how corporations exploit the prison population that is enslaved
through the 13th amendment and calls to change the amendment and provide prisoners with fair,
voluntary work with basic worker rights to improve their economic situations.
Slavery and Exploitation in the Prison System
There are approximately 2.3 million incarcerated persons all across the U.S,3 and they are all
subjected to work as long as they are medically cleared,4 with an estimate of 800,000 people
working in prisons.5 American poverty is distinguished by economic inequalities as Black and
Hispanic communities, which are impacted by the criminal justice system due to existing
structural inequalities that affect their wealth, health, and living situations, have higher rates of
incarceration. Racism had blocked minorities from accessing economic opportunities and gains
which prevented their economic mobility which continues to negatively affect those
communities today. These communities are targeted and put into a cycle of poverty as
incarceration affects job opportunities, passing background checks for housing, or difficulty
obtaining grants such as the Pell Grant to help pay for college.6 Along with many of their
existing economic statuses, being forced to work for corporations in unsafe work conditions for
wages varying from $0.33-$3.45 depending on location and corporation.7 With such low wages,
1
Dennis Schrantz, “Decarceration Strategies: How 5 States Achieved Substantial Prison Population Reductions,”
The Sentencing Project (The Sentencing Project, September 5, 2018).
2
Whitney Benns, “American Slavery, Reinvented,” The Atlantic (Atlantic Media Company, September 21, 2015).
3
Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020,” Mass Incarceration: The Whole
Pie 2020 | Prison Policy Initiative (Prison Policy Initiative, March 24, 2020).
4
Benns. “American Slavery, Reinvented.”
5
In The Public Interest. “Prison Conditions are Working Conditions,” In the Public Interest (In the Public Interest,
n.d.)
6
Will Erstad. "Life after Prison: 4 Barriers to Societal Reentry That Come with a Criminal Conviction." Rasmussen
College (April
17, 2018).
7
Wendy Sawyer, “How much do incarcerated people earn in each state?” Prison Policy Initiative (Prison Policy
Initiative, April 10, 2017).
they are unable to provide for themselves and buy food, housing, healthcare, transportation, etc.
People with felony convictions are sometimes ineligible for certain government aid programs
such as SNAP.8
Approximately 1 in 14 children have had a parent in prison before, with children of color being
more likely to have a parent in prison,9 which greatly affects the development of the child and
could lead to a cycle of poverty. This adds on to the effect of marginalized communities
overpoliced and gives those affected more disadvantages.
Call to change the 13th Amendment to give the prison population fair, consented work with
workers’ rights
Most incarcerated individuals are disproportionately poor and so have inadequate access to living
conditions, healthcare, nutrition, education, among others.10 Their time in prison negatively
affects their life even more through background checks that deny them opportunities and give
them poor wages in unsafe and unfair working conditions, which is a form of legalized race
discrimination as a result of overpolicing communities of color who serve longer sentences.11
Many prison employers do not give jobs that have marketable skills, but those who do have
lower rates of recidivism.12 Laborers are even punished for seeking workers’ rights.13 We must
remove from the 13th amendment that those incarcerated should not be enslaved as a form of
punishment and that they are given higher and appropriate wages for the work they do, and it
must be made illegal for employers to underpay their incarcerated workers.
The incarcerated population must be given safe working conditions and paid with at least
minimum wage to curb their existing situations of poverty for jobs they choose to work for.
To address the negative effects brought by conviction in the adjustment of life post-incarceration,
we must give more opportunities for the increase and growth of marketable skills, pay prison
workers at least minimum wage to help provide for immediate costs after release, restore voting
rights for post-felons, and give applicants with criminal backgrounds the chance to explain
themselves to prospective employers. Background checks bar millions from obtaining a job and
contributing to society with men with criminal records accounting for approximately 34% of all
8
Wendy Sawyer.
9
Teresa Wiltz, “Having a Parent Behind Bars Costs Children, States,” The Pew Charitable Trusts (The Pew
Charitable Trusts, MAy 24, 2016).
10
Human Rights Watch. "Us: Address Impact of Covid-19 on Poor." (March 19, 2020).
11
Katherine E. Leung, “Prison Labor as a Lawful Form of Race Discrimination,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil
Liberties Law Review (Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Fall 2018)
12
Katherine E. Leung
13
Leonhardt. “As Prison Labor Grows.”
unemployed men ages 25-54.14 Employers should also vouch for their incarcerated employees
when they apply to jobs by being their reference in order to allow for the incarcerated employees
to build a resume and be more likely to obtain a job.
Furthermore, as this is a form of legalized race discrimination, there must be less overpolicing of
communities of color as well as increased funding in programs in child development and youth.
This is a multifaceted problem that involves the call to end local property taxes funding schools,
which leads to unequal school funding and opportunities for students of lower socioeconomic
households.
Conclusion
Due to the allowance of slavery under the 13th amendment for the prisoner population, the
prisoner population is forced to work in unsafe work conditions with no workers’ rights and paid
far below minimum wage. This severely affects the disadvantaged communities who are
overpoliced as conviction negatively impacts their background and hurts their chances of
employment and housing, and prevents them from obtaining certain government aid programs.
There must be a reform to the 13th amendment and the prisoner population must be given safe
working conditions and must be paid at least minimum wage if they choose to work.
It is imperative we change the criminal justice system beginning by addressing the racial and
economic inequalities that are tied to incarceration. We must raise the wages of prison workers to
help curb these economic inequalities, give them an opportunity to use their work from prison as
part of their resume, make it illegal for employers to underpay the incarcerated workers, and let
the incarcerated employees build a resume and have their employers be their reference.
14
Binyamin Appelbaum, “Out of Trouble, but Criminal Records Keep Men Out of Work,” New York Times,
(February 28, 2015)
