It’s different today in that the people aren’t actually owned in the way that they were before the 13 amendment. Their labor is the property of the company, but they don’t have to purchase themselves back from the prison in order to be released (although prison fees are eerily similar to that practice). The 13th doesn’t specify who can profit off enslaved people’s labor, just that it’s allowed as punishment for crime. But the huge profit incentive to treat people horribly while being free of any OSHA standards or labor laws is one of many reasons for-profit-prisons need to end immediately.
It’s different today in that the people aren’t actually owned in the way that they were before the 13 amendment. Their labor is the property of the company, but they don’t have to purchase themselves back from the prison in order to be released (although prison fees are eerily similar to that practice). The 13th doesn’t specify who can profit off enslaved people’s labor, just that it’s allowed as punishment for crime. But the huge profit incentive to treat people horribly while being free of any OSHA standards or labor laws is one of many reasons for-profit-prisons need to end immediately.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/paying-your-time-how-charging-inmates-fees-behind-bars-may-violate?