Yes, there is no ethical production under capitalism; there’s blood on the cobalt in our computers, along with everything else. It’s unsustainable. But I’m talking about prisoners in the US and how they are legally slaves. The prisoners should be paid and if they aren’t they are slaves, by the definition of the constitution.
I’ve talked in other threads about how I would love a situation where non violent crime is met with rehab and public service. But even then, if the work is not voluntary, they should be paid minimum wage at least. You volunteered, and volunteer work is wonderful. It’s also voluntary.
Prisoners get so much stigma and difficulty finding work or making ends meet immediately after being released. It contributes to the recidivism rates we see. If they got paid for their work, and had money waiting for them when they were released, that might help lower that rate by giving free people who served their time a cushion to land on. (Of course these are all steps towards not needing so much retributive justice in the country but that’s going to take time)
