I was just scrolling through some of the referendums…what exactly is going on here?
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.
nope, you all kindsa wrong again:
compelled forced labor, especially for the profit of another, is the definition of slavery, and:
inmates are used to produce exports for the prison industry that prisons collect billions of dollars from in revenue.
that labor is often not punitive.
that is compelled labor for the profit of another.
it is exploitative because they are paid pennies on the dollar or not at all, while being charged to stay in prison and charged for the services they received.
most inmates leave jail at a net loss since US prisons, even though they’re making money off the prisoners, are pay for stay.