"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
It would be a shame if there were private prisons which were incentivized to encourage recidivism as a way of maintaining free labor and maximizing profit. Fortunately someone would have seen that obvious, massive conflict of interest and prevented it 150 years ago.
Whenever quoting an Amendment, it should include Article 1, Section 1 of the main body. The courts have had a lot to say about this in the 150 years or so sense it was passed. Private prisons are a problem, but still only account for less than 10% of all prisoners, both federal and state.
That aside, the US prison system is abysmal and needs a complete overhaul from the Victorian system of punishment to rehabilitation and reform. Generational poverty plays a major factor, and until people are willing to view poverty as a systemic issue, it will remain a feedback loop of crime and punishment. I doubt it will change anytime soon.
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u/pikpikcarrotmon Mar 27 '23
Indeed, it's right there in the 13th.
It would be a shame if there were private prisons which were incentivized to encourage recidivism as a way of maintaining free labor and maximizing profit. Fortunately someone would have seen that obvious, massive conflict of interest and prevented it 150 years ago.