The 13th amendment to the Constitution states that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Recently I learned that workers in our state produce furniture and that the state is required to purchase that furniture. Is this slavery? The pie chart from the Washington State Correctional Industries was all that I could find about how much the inmates are paid. It appears to say that inmates get only 20% of their hourly pay (before taxes). So if, as seems unlikely, they earn a Seattle minimum wage, this would come to $3/hr? 