> It sounds like it isn't optional everywhere, the pay is beyond inhuman, they don't always get any benefits at all, no training, don't safety and are overworked.

Most of these are true, but I would push back on the pay angle. If a person is in jail, they are a ward of the state and have no expenses at all. There is no sense in paying them a "living wage" because they don't have to live off it. In any case, most stereotypical prison jobs would not cover the cost of incarcerating the employee.

A common way this works these days in more progressive states is that prisoners who can hold down a remote job are allowed to keep their income, minus paying a tithe for their incarceration:

https://www.mainepublic.org/2025-08-29/in-maine-prisoners-ar...

> Overall, sounds like a nice idea on paper, but combine it with private companies actually running these prisons and probably making profits on having more f̵o̵r̵c̵e̵d̵ labour available to them and you basically re-invented slavery again, just with a nicer name.

Only about 10% of prisoners are in private prisons. The vast majority of them are in some kind of government prison. The US definitely puts too many people in prison, but that's for cultural reasons and not because of some nefarious plan to get cheap labor.

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ruined 4 days ago | parent [-]

>If a person is in jail, they are a ward of the state and have no expenses at all. There is no sense in paying them a "living wage" because they don't have to live off it. In any case, most stereotypical prison jobs would not cover the cost of incarcerating the employee.

only the last sentence here is true.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/amer...

many prisoners receive a bill for their incarceration and will come out of prison with debt, even if they're working while in prison.

it varies prison to prison, but even basic toiletries may not be provided. the most commonly purchased items at commissary are food.

> The US definitely puts too many people in prison, but that's for cultural reasons and not because of some nefarious plan to get cheap labor.

the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery contains a single exception: prisoners.

the largest maximum security prison in the united states is a slave plantation, operated continuously since the 1830s. they still farm cotton.

	▲	SR2Z 6 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> many prisoners receive a bill for their incarceration and will come out of prison with debt, even if they're working while in prison. This is true. I 100% agree with you that this is awful and should not be allowed. > the largest maximum security prison in the united states is a slave plantation, operated continuously since the 1830s. they still farm cotton. Fair, but only 12% of prisoners are even maximum security to begin with, and you don't end up there for slinging a little bit of pot. On that note, I also think we send far too many people to jail and should rewrite the laws to fix that.
	▲	reactordev 4 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		They don’t understand that not only tax payer funds go to these systems but the systems turn around and create victims of those in their care. Paying to stay in jail should be done on an availability of funds, like bonds are (mostly), else it costs the tax payers. The shell companies that operate these prisons shouldn’t be allowed to charge inmates per diems if they are receiving tax payers dollars for them. People think it’s all murders and rapists when that’s only 5% of the population at most. Most are in there for petty crime, drug charges, 3 strike rules, administrative chains, or mental health issues. Yet for 27¢/day, will pick cotton for a local textile.
	▲	array_key_first 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, this is something people miss about prison. Many criminals are forced to repeat crime because prison is designed to economically ruin people. It's also designed to emotionally, physically, and mentally ruin people. Point blank, the system is not meant to prevent or discourage crime, it's meant to enact torture for people we feel deserve it. Whether that helps our society does not matter at all - nobody cares if a rapist leaves prison just to rape again, so long as they are sufficiently punished for it. The punishment is more important than real, tangible outcomes, because ultimately we've built it so the punishment is what makes us feel good and safe.