Eugene V. Debs Institute 🚩

Most Americans think slavery was abolished completely when in reality it was just rebranded as the 13th Amendment allows forced slave labor inside of our prison system. Imprisoned workers earn, on average, 13 to 52 cents per hour nationwide and in 7 states workers are not paid at all. 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐜𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬. Nowhere is this problem worse than in Alabama where incarcerated people produce $450 million a year in goods and services without being paid. Over 500 US corporations have “leased” incarcerated people from Alabama prisons since 2018 to exploit their labor and profit off slave labor. 𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦. And one state over in Louisiana they just passed a law to make homelessness illegal to force unhoused people into the unpaid slave labor prison pipeline. This is the new blueprint for the United States. Rather than address the root problem that causes homelessness [capitalism] states are criminalizing it & turning poverty into a pipeline of slave labor for corporations to profit off of. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥.