• Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Try not working. Slaves being paid isn’t new. The defining feature is punishment for refusing to work. Furthermore southern states pretty quickly created the black codes after the amendment was passed with the intention of re-enslaving any black people who didn’t voluntarily remain on their plantations. This implicit system remained in use until the 1940’s. They also practiced debt slavery where workers who weren’t convicted of anything could be charged a debt by their employer and then legally kept as slaves. That also lasted until FDR.

    Now we have the last remaining vestige where convicts are forced to work in jobs that do nothing for their rehabilitation. You don’t need years to learn how to clean or work a cafeteria. And the other big jobs aren’t available to ex-convicts. Until the 13th is amended we won’t have rehabilitation.

    And if you’re worried about the pay, don’t be. They make literal pennies per hour and 80 percent of it is taken for costs.