I was just scrolling through some of the referendums…what exactly is going on here?
slavery,. or forced labor, is still legal in most US prisons, but they don’t call it slavery.
in the instance, California tried to end slavery/forced labor used as a punishment in their prisons, which is the norm in the US, but failed.
We don’t call it slavery because it’s not. Slavery is private ownership of a person. Forced labor is a form of carceral punishment meted out by society.
nope.
that is part of one narrow definition of specifically chattel slavery.
here’s another definition of slavery:
“compelled labor for the profit of another.”
compelled labor(as practiced in US prisons) for the profit of another(like inmates providing service and revenue for private prisons).
here’s a third:
“a situation or practice in which people are coerced to work under conditions that are exploitative”
by two of the three definitions, inmates forced or exploited to work are slaves.
one is probably enough.
It’s the explicit definition barred under the 13th Amendment. So, it’s the appropriate one to use.
Your other definition similarly doesn’t work with your argument. It’s not “for the profit of another” it’s as punishment for a criminal act and even if the primary goal was profit, it’s not “for another” it’s being employed in the service of society.
The final definition also fall short. It’s not exploitative, it’s not coercion. It’s forced and delivered by the established system of justice.
Here’s the thing, you don’t have to like labor as a criminal punishment. But, your distaste for the practice doesn’t make it slavery.