The U.S. is 1 of only 17 countries in the world that uses state-imposed forced labor, a form of “modern …

An additional “tax” on commissary goods means incarcerated people are paying far more for staple items like peanut butter and …

For more than 150 years, the U.S. Constitution has relegated prisoners to a distinct underclass that allows us to be …

On March 3, 2023. in Crestline, Calif., a crew of inmate firefighters walk back to their vehicle after shoveling and …

Forward Each year, a matrix of private corporations generate $80 billion in revenue by exploiting incarcerated people and their support …

On February 1, 1865 Abraham Lincoln signed a joint House and Senate resolution that would later be ratified as the …

An inmate serving a jail sentence rests his hand on a fence. REUTERS/Joshua Lott A recent U.S. Justice Department report …

The 13th Amendment is the legislation that “ended” legal slavery in the U.S., it reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, …

Out of five states that put measures to voters on the subject, Louisiana voters were the only ones to vote …

Rep. Merika Coleman, the Birmingham Democrat who spearheaded Alabama’s new state constitution, said she’s tired of the South’s national image. …

On Election Day at the Martin Luther King Elementary School in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, on November …

Voters in four states have approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More than 150 years after slaves were freed in the U.S., voters in five states will …

People incarcerated in the Alabama prison system began striking Monday over what they’ve described as inhumane treatment. Organizers say thousands have participated in the …

On September 7, 2022, after many attempted delays from the City of Susanville, California, a Lassen County judge ruled in …

Companies across the South profited off the forced labor of people in prison after the Civil War – a racist …

A committee studying racism in the Alabama Constitution gave tacit approval Wednesday to a plan to remove language on school …

A nationwide movement hopes to close the ‘slavery loophole’ that enables the exploitation of 800,000 prisoners in the US When …

The Tennessee House has approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would change the state constitution’s wording to allow for prisoners …

As the Nov. 8 general election approaches, advocates from around the country have pointed to Vermont’s Proposal 2 — which, …

Oregon’s Measure 112 The Legislature referred Measure 112 on slavery and servitude to the November ballot. The statewide measure would …

A state lawmaker said Wednesday that slavery is alive and well in Louisiana’s prison system and put forward legislation that …

In his 10 years behind bars, Dorsey Nunn says he was an inmate and a slave because he was forced …

Originally aired in 2019 John Oliver explains how prisoners make and spend money, and how companies can profit at the …

Image by Javad Esmaeili licensed under the Unsplash License. Note: I have been using the term “incarcerated people” throughout my column (as opposed …

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A proposal aimed at removing the last remnant of slavery from California law failed to pass …

Executive Summary Our nation incarcerates over 1.2 million people in state and federal prisons, and two out of three of …

Despite producing nearly $11 billion worth of goods and services each year, incarcerated workers in the U.S. earn an average …

Original Publication in 2015 Executive Summary Each year, the United States spends $80 billion1 to lock away more than 2.4 …

Outside prison gates in Yangon, Myanmar Executive Summary This executive summary includes extracts from the full report published in English. …

“Prison labor is slave labor. Pass the #AbolitionAmendment.” Congressional Democrats on Monday marked the 156th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th …

The 13th Amendment is having a moment of reckoning. Considered one of the crowning achievements of American democracy, the Civil …

It is 2022 and slavery and involuntary servitude is still legal in the United States. Passed by Congress on January …

When many people think of prison labor, they get an image in their head of convicts stamping license plates for pennies an hour. …

Two dozen conspirators forced workers to pay fees for travel and housing while forcing them to work for little to …

Curtis Ray Davis II was wrongly convicted of murder. He served nearly 26 years in Louisiana’s Angola State Prison before …

Ancient Mogilev, a former city of the medieval Duchy of Lithuania and now part of Belarus close to the border …

The state of Florida allows for unpaid prison labor, but that could change if a Tampa-based Democratic lawmaker’s joint resolution …

In May 2018 after an exhaustive one and a half years of investigative research on prison labor, I published a …

Efforts by States to Eliminate the Exception Allowing Slavery or Involuntary Servitude as Punishment for a Crime The Thirteenth Amendment ...

Within the debate of penal labor, one commonly ignored aspect is the use of labor in contract facilities, also known …

Around the country, correctional industries are quietly furnishing our public universities with beds, desks, bookshelves, and more. These businesses, born …

Public universities are much more likely to buy goods made by incarcerated people because they can (and are sometimes required …

As the world contends with the coronavirus, and the United States reckons with systemic racism, the West Coast is being …

This is the first in a three-part blog series authored by Polaris to introduce the issue.  Read part two here, …

Most people assume that in 1865 with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment slavery in the United States was abolished. However, forced labor still exists in the United States today through the exception built into the Thirteenth Amendment for those who have been “duly convicted of a crime”. This exception made it legal and permissible to continue slavery within prisons in the United States. This is commonly known now as prison labor.

This is the final part in a three-part blog series authored by Polaris to introduce the issue.  The first two …