The American Civil War settled the question of State vs. Federal supremacy and ended chattel slavery in in the United States by way of the 13th amendment. In full the 13th amendment reads:

Section 1. 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.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Over all this amendment corrected a serious sinful crime committed by the United States. I do not have a long list of things I consider to be an objective evil but slavery is certainly at the top of it. The evils of the race based chattel slavery reverberate throughout our society today and there is much to be done in addressing the wrong of the past and of the present.

However I do feel that the amendment contains a grievous flaw in carve out clause;

…”, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…”.

Prisoners in the U.S. penitentiary system earn a paltry wage that ranges from 23 cents per hour to one dollar and fifteen cents per hour. Prisoner engaged in labor are not simply just working for the state, a number of corporations engaged prison labor to make products and provide services to the open market. In California prison labor is used in fighting wildfires and those prisoners earn between 2 and 2 dollars per day. (To make matters worse the skills these prisoners learn in firefighting have no applicability once they are released as they are barred from being hired by state fire crews.)

The injustice is compounded when for-profit prisoner enter into the mix. The labor markets are distorted by corporations owning and running prisons that are themselves a source of far below market prices for labor. Add in the deep pockets from the large corporations for political donations and lobbying and in my opinion the situation becomes deeply immoral.

This week prisoner across the United States had begun strikes protesting these unjust policies; they need our support.