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The slave labor is only in Arizona, I believe. Could be wrong on that.
Parole does defeat the primary purpose of prison; I think across the board everyone would be happier if we properly funded our prisons, like Norway does.
No it’s in every system Arizona has some particularly egregious behavior in one of its jails where slave labor is federally illegal but prisons across the country use slave labor. Often they do provide financial compensation but not enough to have a full stomach and regular communication with your family, but more to the point, the labor isn’t optional.
And yeah at times it’s been particularly egregious like after the civil war where one state built walls around a plantation and sent prisoners (often freedmen arrested on bullshit charges) to work it.
My attitude is no new prisons. No new space for prisoners. I fully endorse prison reform with those conditions. For every cell spot built, one must be rendered unusable and irreparable. Often prison reform is used to smuggle in new prisons with the old ones still operating same as always. I want them to be dens of rehabilitation but I don’t trust them to do that. The guards are just as evil as the criminals and we have way too many prisoners. No other country has the prisoners per capita we have. We don’t try to alleviate the material conditions that create crime. We don’t try to remove laws that hurt more than help. We don’t treat ex prisoners as people. And we don’t rehabilitate.
The US have the highest prison population in the world, so maybe, just maybe, they could try locking up fewer people? You know, like those in for marijuana possession, homelessness, poverty or mental illness?
Don't forget innocent people
No, the vast majority of the states still have slave labor. The 13th amendment aboloshed slavery "except as punishment for a crime." Last I checked only six states had changed their state constitutions to abolish all slavery, even in prison, though several others had ballot measures to do the same, so maybe there's more now.
Even if true, it's enshrined in the US constitution and could pop up in any state that doesn't have its own laws against it