In the current board post, the question on what the 13th Amendment is and how it relates to ongoing free “slave” labor in U.S. prisons will be considered and discussed. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1865 after the Civil War and abolished slavery (“13th”). However, it is vital to understand that abolishing slavery was a matter of human rights and a rejection of the economic system which has existed for many years. After slavery was legally abolished, the state could lease a person convicted of a crime to a private corporation. Such a person would work for free or for little pay. The system continues to exist in the United States: it is called Penal labor.
The 13th Amendment resulted in what is called today Penal labor in the United States. Slavery and involuntary servitude were abolished, but “except as a punishment for crime whereof, the party shall have been duly convicted” (Benns). The American documentary movie 13th by Ava DuVernay explains how the system worked back then. When slavery was forbidden, the country experienced many financial difficulties. It was especially evident in the South that had to be restored after the Civil War. From this moment, onwards, an African American male’s image was under attack: they were shown as a danger for society and a threat for women. They quickly went into jail for low-level offenses as possession of marijuana (“13th”). This way, the American criminal justice system became a legal supplier of African Americans’ involuntary servitude for the Southern labor market. The effect of the 13th Amendment on the U. S. prison system can be seen even nowadays in some states.
Works Cited
“13th”. YouTube, uploaded by Netflix, n. d., Web.
Benns, Whitney. “American Slavery, Reinvented”. The Atlantic, 2015, Web.