Prisoner fire fighters survey a fire before going to work. Today 30% or California’s fire fighters are essentially slave labor

What if I told you there was an army of workers in this country, probably over 2 million strong, that is forced to work for next to nothing? If they’re lucky, these workers get 40 cents an hour. They get no Social Security benefits, no workers’ compensation insurance, and certainly no overtime. They often are threatened with punishment if they refuse these terms.

You’d probably say that this system sounds akin to slavery. And you wouldn’t be wrong.

But this is also the reality of America’s federal, state, and local prison system.

When Congress put inmate work programs in place in place in 1979, the goal was giving people in prison marketable skills to help them reintegrate into society. But as state governments also climbed on board with their own programs, and the private prison […]