When I worked for a DoD contractor one of the things I had to do somewhat regularly was repair the stuff that the prison slaves made. Seeing that in reality was one of several ethical reasons why I quit. I don’t blame the slaves for their poor quality. I wouldn’t do a good job as a slave either.

It might be good to get the perspective of actual prisoners about this before you demand an end to prison jobs. I’ve seen several answers to “what’s life like in prison” that touch on this but this is the first one I found over on reddit. I bolded the relevant section. https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/59tp8q/this_is_slavery_us_inmates_strike_in_what/d9bkz7p/

I am a convicted felon and have spent time in various prisons in California, I don’t know how it is in other states maybe it’s different I don’t know. So as a disclaimer my perspective is ONLY on California prisons. I discharged parole in 2005 and was last released from prison in 2003 so it’s also been some time. It’s also important to note that at the time of my convictions when I agreed to a plea deal I had to literally sign away my civil rights and in California (not sure about everywhere) those are replaced with what is called the Title XV which are a set of rules and rights granted to prisoners, I don’t know how those came about I just know that it is what governs prisoners rights in California at least. So that’s a different set of rights and regulations you would probably want to be familiar with prior to arguing the merits of prison conditions.

It’s pretty common from my redditing experience to hear people decry the 13th amendment (which I believe is the one saying slavery is illegal with the exception of prisoners?) as though we are running a modern slave trade in prisons. In my experience that is simply not true. In California prisons while there is certainly incentive to work, you do not have to and are not forced to, although I don’t know anyone who would choose not to. However, the wages are not why people work for the most part. In California you have what is known as the good time/work time credit. For every 2 days of good behavior (no write ups) you receive an additional days credit of time served. So without working and with good behavior you will do essentially 2/3 of your sentence. Work time credits add an extra day to that so once you go through reception and are able to get a job in prison whatever it may be, you have the opportunity with good behavior and work to only serve half of your remaining sentence. This is the primary motivating factor for working in prison in California, everyone wants to get out. The second would be boredom, prison is incredibly boring, a lot of time spent with nothing to do, so anything to break up that monotony or get you out of your dorm/cell is a benefit. The paltry amount of money they give you for doing the work is tertiary to these first two incentives. In fact, I never received a paying job in prison, I chose (and most in my position did) education instead which counts as work as far as good time/work time credits go. Education is non-paying but you’ll be placed quicker and can start your “half-time” sooner, which to anyone other than a lifer is a greater benefit. You are fed and housed either way and the state has a minimum of what they have to provide even the most indigent inmates as far as toiletries and the like. In CA slavery doesn’t factor into the equation, boredom, time served credit, and maybe a little extra cash for the store once a month are the driving factors.

There is also often a big hubbub made of private prisons. Again from my experience in California I have to assume that the people complaining about these things have never spent time in any prison. I have been in state run and private run prisons in California and I’ll take the private one every time. In California they are called CCF’s or Community Correctional Facilities, and the living standards there are FAR superior to the state prisons. Better food, nicer beds, you wouldn’t believe the difference in quality of life an extra inch to a prison mattress or a decent pillow makes. In fact, if it were my choice based on my experiences and those of people I knew, I would rather every prison were like California private run prisons. However there is a limit to that, because you don’t want prison to be too comfortable for its inhabitants. You can talk about punishment vs rehabilitation and the merits of other societies views vs the US. But frankly, I stopped doing illegal things because I didn’t want to go back to prison, for me it’s that simple, though I know for other it’s not I can only speak for myself.

Trusting prisoners is a tricky thing. When you go to prison you hear a lot of stories, and you quickly learn that the vast majority are just that, stories. There is a lot of down time and sitting around with not a lot to do and people like to talk, it happens. Exaggerating is a very common plot device to inmate stories. Prison makes you feel small having almost no control over your life and anything you can do to make you feel better about yourself is a welcome relief, which includes telling stories which are often largely exaggerated to the benefit of the story teller. Secondly, inmates like to have something to complain about, it galvanizes them while at the same time gives them something to do, like I said boredom is a big deal. As well as, when you can spend your time feeling like a victim, that’s less time you spend feeling like the criminal. Everyone in prison has a hustle, and if they feel like there is something to gain from doing a particular thing, then they probably will. Which is why when you watch prison documentaries, at least the ones I’ve seen from inside California, I have to laugh at some of the most insane stories these people tell for the camera. Take that shit with a grain of salt because these people will ham it up for the camera, it’s human nature to want attention and to want people to sympathize with you rather than look down on you as a criminal, and a better more fantastic story gets more camera time, but I can’t really blame them, I just don’t sympathize with them.

The amount of people in prison primarily for weed is a tiny percentage of the overall population, so if you think legalizing recreational marijuana (which I am for, even though I don’t smoke it) is going to empty out the prisons and bankrupt private prisons you’d be in for a rude awakening because it’s just not going to happen, there will still be plenty of people in prison I assure you. Oh also it’s a common belief that felons can’t vote, which isn’t true, you just can’t be in prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony. I have discharged parole and will be voting in the coming weeks and my vote will be to legalize, it’s just weed so why no, hopefully it passes, but it’s not going to have the devastating effects on private prison populations that you may be hoping for. Marijuana based arrests might be more than all violent crimes combined, but based on the numbers I would say that primarily marijuana based imprisonments are certainly not more than other crimes, and I don’t specify violent crimes there because even if weed is legal, meth still won’t be and personally I don’t think it should be but you’re entitled to your own opinion on the matter.

Oh and before anyone asks I’ve never seen or even heard of a rape happening in a prison I was at. Plenty of trans/homosexual people though so sex certainly does happen but it’s generally consensual every time that I’ve known of it. Which I’m fine with two adults having consensual sex, just wish they would find somewhere other than the dorm to do it, hard to sleep when some dude is getting a sloppy bj three bunks down. They probably oughta give them condoms too since people with AIDS are in the general population now with no one knowing about it.

Anyway that’s my ten cents, take it or leave it.

Edit: my username is unrelated I never killed anyone. Also thanks but don’t give me gold, give some money to someone who could actually use it.

2nd Edit: I want to be very clear that the things I’ve said are ONLY based on my personal experiences and my opinion of those experiences, I don’t have a side or an agenda, I’m not trying to preach about what’s morally right or wrong I’m just giving what information I can give based on what I’ve personally been through I cannot say that it is a universal truth.