~ Slavery was Abolished in 1865 ~? (The Hurd Mentality)

Manufacturers scrambled to find other sources of cheap labor, they didn’t have to look too far.  Prisons and big businesses have now been exploiting this loophole in the 13th amendment for over a century.  “Insourcing,” as prison labor is often called.  Manufacturers have chosen to forcibly employ the 2.4 million incarcerated people in the United States. Chances are high that if a product you’re holding says it is “American Made,” it was made in an American prison.  On average, prisoners work 8 hours/ day, but have no union representation and make between .23 and $1.15 per hour, over 6 times less than federal minimum wage. These low wages combined with increasing communication and commissary costs mean that inmates are often released from correctional facilities with more debt than they had at their arrival. Meanwhile, big businesses receive tax credits for employing these inmates in excess of millions of dollars a year.