Examples Of Involuntary Servitude

Today, there are approximately 1.3 million people in the U.S. prison system. Of that amount, 128,000 are in privately owned prisons (Lee). Private prisons generally have a contract with either the federal or state government to build prisons and incarcerate prisoners. In addition, there are 37 states that allow these prisoners to additionally be contracted for labor with companies as big as Boeing or Microsoft. The wages of the prisoners can be as low as $0.17 (Pelaez). These are not conditions expected of one of the most developed countries in the world. However, the U.S. has a precedent for this. The system of slavery created this precedent of involuntary servitude. The United States prison system is not only analogous to slavery,
As mentioned previously, it is relatively common practice for private prisons to subcontract their prisoners not just for other private companies but the U.S. government as well. They are usually paid as little as a sweatshop worker. However, some states do not even have to compensate them (Shemkus). Even the nature of the work is somewhat similar. Both slaves and prisoners are generally used for unskilled or low-skilled labor. Furthermore, in some states former plantations are used as prison farms where the likeness to slavery is extremely dubious. In one such example, the Lousisiana State Penitentiary in Angola is just that. Convicts literally harvest crops. Also concerning is that a majority of the workers are black. The guards are all white as is the warden. Another important aspect in this particular instance is the use of religion. Religion is a big factor at the facility. The promise of the afterlife gives solace to many of the prisoners in the same way it used to for slaves on plantations. While it is certainly fine for prisoners to have religion, the fact that the warden seemingly encourages it is controversial (Angola for
Sharecropping is a system where people rent land where they tend to crops. In return, they give a share of the crops to the person they rented from. Since the renters were poor, they would often have to be leased tools and buy the seeds on credit. With the interest rates tacked on they would often not be able to ever leave their job. Nobody made the worker lease the land, but he has been inevitably pulled into a system of involuntary servitude. Likewise, nobody made convicts commit a crime, but in some instances it is understandable what led them to a life of crime. Sharecroppers were often poor and had few options in an economy entirely based on agriculture. Many convicts come from poverty stricken communities that already have a prevalence of crime. Furthermore, sharecropping, unlike slavery, was composed of both blacks and whites. In that respect, prison populations more closely resemble sharecropping. Also, like sharecropping, incarceration tends to trap people into that system. With sharecropping, they are unable to ever produce enough income to get out of it. Once out of prison, former convicts have few options considering that every employer requires you to list felonies on job applications. Not having a job would then increase the chance of recidivism. Moreover, laws like the three strikes policy or mandatory minimums further promote