January 2024

This report comes roughly a year after we published our first report, in November 2022, on the existence of forced labor in U.S. jails and prisons and the private wealth generated by that labor. In Convicted: How Corporations Exploit the Thirteenth Amendment’s Loophole for Profit, we traced the supply chains of three domestic companies that benefit from incarcerated labor, each of which leverages a different legal avenue around the general federal prohibition on prison-made goods entering interstate commerce. We also recognized the many ways in which this use of incarcerated workers violates international law and perpetuates the United States’ continuous embrace of systemically racist institutions.

In this report, we build on the information in Convicted by providing deeper analysis – punctuated by stories of specific companies and commentary by currently incarcerated workers – of how private stakeholders profit from U.S. prison industries, and by weaving throughout the report immediately actionable recommendations for federal and state policymakers, companies, and lawyers and advocates. Like a road sign pointing drivers toward the avenue not yet taken – but plotted and visible – this report is intended to catalyze movement toward the creation of a domestic economy no longer dependent on the exploitation of cheap, captive, convicted, and frequently Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, labor.

Incarcerated workers are not entitled to the minimum wage or to safety and health protections, do not enjoy the right to form labor associations, are often restricted from managing – or retaining – the scant wages they do make, are generally restricted from bringing (and certainly from succeeding on) civil claims against employers or state officials after being injured while working, are frequently barred from receiving workers’ compensation, and are punished – sometimes severely – for refusing to work or for requesting a safer position. This system – which generates tremendous wealth for states and private actors alike – is emblematic of a deeply entrenched national commitment to both capitalism and race-based labor exploitation. This report adds to the tremendous canon of evidence – collected since the nation’s founding – making clear that the United States’ economic engine remains tethered to a cheap, captive, and convicted workforce.

The report also makes clear that there are ways to break free.

The image used throughout this landing page is by Getty Images Signature.