Frederick Douglass 1888: “I Denounce the So-Called Emancipation as a Stupendous Fraud”

I have assisted in fighting one battle for the abolition of slavery, and the American people have shed their blood in defense of the Union and the Constitution, and neither I nor they should wish to fight this battle over again; and in order that we may not, we should look the facts in the face today and, if possible, nip the evil in the bud.

New York State

Twyla Carter, Zellnor Myrie, and Harvey Epstein, “End New York’s prison slavery system,” Times Union, Dec 8 2022.

It is beyond time for our state to abolish slavery in all its forms, including the practice of forcing incarcerated New Yorkers to work and depriving them of labor protections, including fair and just wages.

13th Forward Coalition A legislative coalition of advocates, grassroots organizations, and impacted people working to end exploitation and brutality within our prison labor system. Resource links.

Wages for incarcerated workers range from just 10 cents to 65 cents per hour, before garnishments from fines and fees, and the vast majority of incarcerated workers earn less than 33 cents per hour. As Covid-19 ravaged New York in Spring 2020 and the state went on lockdown, incarcerated people were forced to continue working in prison factories, risking their lives without protective equipment while bottling hand sanitizer and building coffins.

Nick Pinto, “New York’s Prison Labor System: ‘You Got the Slaves, and You Got the Masters’,” HellGate, Feb 13, 2024

Testifying to state lawmakers, former incarcerated workers for the state’s Corcraft program described a regime of exploitation. Ronald Dennis: “The commissioner says that you can take the skills home and use them. Name me one company in the United States—not just New York, but the United States—that presses license plates. I’m 66 years old, and I still have pain in my hands by putting them dies in the machines.”

PBS Background video: “New York Lawmaker Proposes Legislation to Ban “Prison Slave Labor … Mar 14, 2023 — Legislation that would end forced prison labor and require incarcerated people to receive minimum wage was recently introduced in Albany.  New York State Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, who sponsored the legislation, as well as prison reform advocates Jesse Koklas and Johnny Perez.”

NYS bills on slavery and prison labor

There are two bills underway in the State Assembly and Senate:  one that would start the long process of changing the state constitution to end slavery for all incarcerated persons The No Slavery in NY Act (S.225/A.3412), and another The Fairness and Opportunity for Incarcerated Workers Act (S6747/A7452) with direct impact on labor conditions and pay (but applies those in prisons not the over 16,000 in county jails so far.  See discussion at 13th Forward Coalition.

Prison Labor Nationwide

ACLU, “Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers,” June 15, 2022, extract from ACLU Report

Two out of three of these incarcerated people are also workers. In most instances, the jobs these nearly 800,000 incarcerated workers have look similar to those of millions of people working on the outside. But there are two crucial differences: Incarcerated workers are under the complete control of their employers, and they have been stripped of even the most minimal protections against labor exploitation and abuse.

Wendy Sawyer, “How much do incarcerated people earn in each state?,” Prison Policy Initiative, April 10, 2017

Prisons appear to be paying incarcerated people less today than they were in 2001. The average of the minimum daily wages paid to incarcerated workers for non-industry prison jobs is now 86 cents

Edwin Rios, Movement grows to abolish US prison labor system that treats workers as ‘less than human’, Guardian, Dec 24, 2022

When we talk to people who are incarcerated about how they feel are not being protected from slavery, the first thing we hear are about feeling less than human.

James Kilgore,The Myth of Prison Slave Labor Camps in the U.S., Counterpunch Aug 9 2013

Those behind bars constitute a displaced and discarded labor force, marginalized from mainstream employment on the streets by deindustrialization in their communities and the gutting of urban education in poor communities of color… The shift of the prison system’s emphasis from rehabilitation to punishment in the last three decades has blocked opportunities for people to upgrade skills and education while incarcerated. 

Abolish Slavery Network, Resources

Incarcerated people who refuse to work for little to no pay are often beaten, denied visits and calls, put in solitary confinement, and even denied parole.