The hard reality is this: slavery and involuntary servitude remain legally sanctioned in the United States today. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
The core problem is stark: This exception has enabled a system in which incarcerated individuals can be forced to work for little or no pay, without constitutional protections against exploitation. Refusal to comply can lead to disciplinary action, restricted privileges, or even solitary confinement. Courts have consistently ruled that prisoners have no inherent right to compensation for their labor.
Lawyers, activists, journalists, and filmmakers have drawn attention to this enduring injustice across various platforms. Notable examples include the 2016 Netflix movie “13th”; the Human Trafficking Center’s Fact Sheet on human trafficking and forced labor in for profit detention facilities, and the 2022 ACLU of Chicago report on the exploitation of incarcerated workers. The Alliance to End Human Trafficking dedicated its November 2023 Stop Trafficking newsletter to this issue.
I teach a human rights course as part of a college program inside a state correctional facility for men. One of our seminar sessions focuses on prison labor practices that cross the line into severe exploitation. A student in my class chose this topic for his final research paper—and later for the capstone project required for graduation. In his research, he cited a National Public Radio report from 2023 that captures the range of punitive responses in the United States to refusing prison labor:
“Penalties for refusing work can vary widely. You could get a disciplinary write-up—that might be what we think of as a ticket. Maybe you can’t use the commissary service or have visitation for a week or two. At the other end of the spectrum, you can be sent to solitary confinement, where you spend 23 hours a day alone in a cell.”
My students, all of whom are pursuing a bachelor’s degree while incarcerated, reflected on this injustice with deep empathy and moral clarity. Despite their relative privilege within the prison system, they expressed anguish at what so many others endure.
In Hebrews 13:3, we are called to “Regard prisoners as if you were in prison with them.” These already incarcerated students went even further, exploring what it means to identify with exploited fellow prisoners as if they, too, were subjected to such treatment. One student insightfully observed, “Treatment that devalues human life should not be tolerated anywhere in the U.S.—but especially not in institutions that are supposed to teach people the value of human life.”
So, what can we do?
We can begin by listening to those leading the fight to close this constitutional loophole—many of whom are formerly incarcerated individuals. The End the Exception movement, for instance, seeks to “unequivocally make the evils of slavery and involuntary servitude history, once and for all.” A number of states have already amended their constitutions to remove language that permits slavery as punishment for a crime. More efforts are underway to encourage other states to follow suit.
By seeing incarcerated individuals as fellow human beings–“fellow prisoners,” we begin to grasp the moral urgency of this issue. With that understanding comes the inspiration to educate, organize, and advocate for the abolition of slavery in all its forms—and to end the exception.
