Image Credits: @larryfarr on Unsplash (Unsplash License)

On September 9th, 1971, prisoners in the Attica State Prison revolted due to their meager living conditions and lack of political rights. During the revolt, 33 inmates and 10 correctional officers died. More than half a century later, the fight for the rights of inmates continues. Exactly 45 years after the Attica prison revolt, inmates across two dozen states went on strike. Organized by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) under the umbrella of the International Workers of the World (IWW), inmates protested against “slavery in America.” The protest resulted in several carceral facilities being shut down. Known as the 2016 U.S. Prison Strike, the strike became the largest in history and faced a brutal crackdown, including solitary confinement as a punishment for prisoners. 

What were the prisoners striking for? The IWOC outlines their message on their website as the “struggle to end prison slavery” and “build class solidarity amongst members of the working class,” through “mutual organizing of a worldwide union for emancipation.” The IWW was established in 1905 and works to unite workers globally. The IWOC’s mission stems from an intrinsic flaw in the U.S. justice system since 1865. 

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. The Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865. It affirms the abolishment of slavery within the nation. However, within the amendment, there was a single exception: slavery would no longer exist in the United States, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…” Since the infamous exception was enshrined into the Constitution, a prison industrial complex has been formed within the U.S. criminal justice system. Now, in 2023, over one million people are behind bars. 

A detailed report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) outlines the progression of prison labor conditions since the ratification of the 13^th Amendment. Both in the North and in the South, incarcerated laborers were to work up to 16 or 17 hours a day, facing brutal punishment for any arbitrary reason, for example, “not working fast enough.” Organized free labor eventually pushed for the disbandment of contract prisons in the North, but a quick shift was made to “state-use systems.” States became the sole purchaser of prison-made goods. In 1891, a similar system was established with the first federal prison systems. State and federal sponsored incarceration programs replaced convict-lease programs in the 20^th century. The profit from these programs was intended to “offset the costs of incarceration.” Attempts at legislative reform were made to no avail, from the 1935 Ashurst-Sumners Act to the Minnesota Restitution Centers. Prison labor continued because it was convenient and profitable. 

Eight states don’t give any compensation to their incarcerated workers. In the remaining states, it’s rare for a worker to be paid more than a dollar an hour. Workers are not given pay raises; incarcerated workers in New York last received a raise in 1983 and inmates in South Dakota haven’t seen a change in their wages in more than twenty years. Additionally, incarcerated workers lack basic workplace protections. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), inmates aren’t considered “employees” and state-sponsored prisons aren’t covered as “employers,” meaning that OSHA has no jurisdiction. The ACLU finds that incarcerated workers are often “assigned work in unsafe conditions and without [standard] protective gear,” which leads to workers being “burned with chemicals” as well as “maimed or killed on the job.” If incarcerated workers are injured, they are subsequently denied healthcare. An inmate in Georgia had a leg amputation due to a lack of appropriate care after slipping and falling while working in the kitchen. Indeed, there is both a physical and mental toll. Nearly 50 percent of inmates have some kind of mental illness, and instead of receiving proper care, they are often faced with the use of physical force by prison officials or solitary confinement when displaying any sort of unusual behavior. 

The ACLU repeatedly emphasizes that after the end of the American Civil War, prison labor was always intended to make up for the economic “loss” of chattel slavery. Over-incarceration and over-policing of people from communities of color and in particular of people of African American descent upholds an ever-existing legacy of racism in the U.S. criminal justice system. A study from the Pew Research Center found that Black people are 26 percent of jail populations but only 12 percent of local populations, their incarceration often being forms of legalized slavery and labor exploitation. The yearly value that comes from exploited prison labor is $2 billion. 

The multitude of inhumane conditions in prisons has pushed inmates to strike and has also led to attempts and efforts to unionize and organize incarcerated workers for decades. In 1974, The Appellee Prisoners’ Labor Union was formed with the goal of promoting better labor conditions throughout prisons in North Carolina, although the state sought to combat this effort and eliminate prisoners’ ability to organize. In 1975, this union filed a suit on the basis of the argument that their First Amendment Right of Freedom of Assembly was being violated. In 1977, the Supreme Court ruled on Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union that inmates did not have the right to join labor unions. It was ruled that the state has a reasonable interest in “maintaining security in a correctional facility.” Jones set the precedent that a threat to the security of the correctional institution is not protected by the First Amendment, contributing towards the continuation of the ideology that inmates do not retain their human rights. This ideological outlook has hindered the ability of unions to organize within prisons and maintain the safety of the prisoners who choose to advocate for themselves. 

The consequences of the Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners’ Labor Union rulings are still felt today while prison justice advocates seek to establish the next pathway of fighting for the rights of incarcerated individuals and generating a more racially conscious discourse regarding imprisonment. In The New Jim Crow, published in 2010, Michelle Alexander argues that mass incarceration generates a new “racial caste-system” in which the stifling of a prisoner’s basic human rights is akin to Jim Crow laws that sought to discriminate against communities of color. Moreover, in an article published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology in 2020, Keith Armstrong offers an analysis on how the First Amendment does not protect unions, but it doesn’t “formally ban them either” therefore opening a path for “groups like the IWOC” to operate in prisons. Armstrong argues that prisoners could persuade prison officials that organizing does not go against the goals of the prison. Strikes, like the 2016 U.S. Prison Strike, are a consistent way to move forward and raise awareness regarding the rights of prisoners. In an article published in the Idaho Law Review in 2016, Eric Fink argues that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) should recognize incarcerated workers as statutory employees, making the point that this is doable within federal programs such as Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIE) and Federal Prisons Industries (UNICOR). The continuing advocacy of legal work-arounds, as well as increasing awareness, offers ways to provide incarcerated workers with the basic right to demand for better living and working conditions and protections under the law.