Incarcerated workers produce $11B in value for $0.13-$0.52/hour wages

Incarcerated workers produce over $2 billion in goods and provide $9 billion in facility maintenance services annually while earning average wages of $0.13-$0.52/hour -- and in states like Texas, Georgia, and Alabama, prison workers receive no wages at all. The 13th Amendment explicitly permits involuntary servitude 'as punishment for crime,' making this the only form of forced labor still constitutionally sanctioned in the United States. The people harmed are the incarcerated workers themselves, who cannot accumulate savings for reentry, cannot send meaningful support to their families, and cannot pay off court-ordered fines and restitution. But the harm cascades outward: when someone is released after years of labor with no savings, they face immediate financial crisis -- no first month's rent, no work clothes, no transportation -- which directly drives the 44% recidivism rate within the first year. A federal lawsuit in Alabama arguing forced prison labor is unconstitutional was dismissed in mid-2024, with the court ruling that the work constituted 'mandatory chores.' This persists because corporations and state agencies have become dependent on below-market prison labor: Hyundai suppliers used Alabama prison work-release workers until ending the practice in December 2024 under legal pressure, and state highway departments, university farms, and government buildings rely on prison labor crews that would cost 10-20x more at free-market wages.