Everything You Need To Know About The Prison Strike & Why Participants Say They're Fighting 'Modern Day Slavery'

State-sanctioned prison labor has been a controversial pillar of U.S. prisons for over a century. Allowed by the 13th Amendment, penal labor has been an ever-changing but still problematic part of this country’s history. However, over the last several months, prison inmates have been on a labor strike, citing violations of human rights that constitute as slavery.

According to the New York Times, the prison strike officially kickstarted on Aug. 21, and it’s presently the largest prison strike in the country’s history. Starting with the Hyde Correctional Institution in North Carolina and declared with three fence-donned banners, the now-nationwide prison strike has come to fruition because of festering low inmate wages similarly unjust discipline.

Above all us, prisoners and activists alike are protesting because they claim the current status of prison labor is institutionalized slavery, which is somehow upheld by the law. Presently, prisoners are subjected to low wages, which leave them unable to afford basic commissary item—thus unable to afford necessary sanitary items, toiletries, medication and medical visits (which are already rare and overpriced, dependant on the state and specific institution).

Because prisoners often work full-time jobs within their facilities and are still unable to afford essential items, advocates and prisoners alike claim that this infringes on their human rights—and it does. Though legalized by the 13th Amendment, the fact that prison labor leaves prisoners without sufficient funds — because they’re often well below minimum wage— contradicts Article 4 of the U.S. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Granted, President Donald Trump’s recent declaration that the U.S. will pull out of the UN Human Rights Council can leave every U.S. resident’s fundamental rights vulnerable.
 

Being restrained (via monetary constraints) from purchasing necessities, while being forced to perform laborious tasks can be a form of slavery, especially want many prisons are forced to work regardless of insufficient pay. Because most for-profit US prisons force inmates to uphold a job while in prison, this nominal pay is unavoidable, which is why prisoners are striking back to demand that the US Prison Litigation Reform Act is dismantled, racially biased sentencing are annulled, and human rights are given back to prisoners.

While prisoner rights and labor enforcement vary from state to state and prison to prison, certain states require inmates to pay for their “room and board” in prison. Iowa specifically has adopted this room and board policy; however, the state withholds the majority of any incoming external commissary funds. Still, many states apparently treat inmates’ sentencing as a hostel visit, as room and board charges are prevalent in the justice system. Inmates and their allies continue to fight against in-prison discrimination, but this isn’t the fight time prisoners have organized a strike.

In fact, the convoluted history of prisoner labor ignited in 1865 with the 13th Amendment. Shortly thereafter, the prison labor timeline was deeply ingrained in US slavery. Though slavery was abolished that same year, politicians voted and passed the Black Codes, which forced newly-freed slaves to sign yearly labor contracts. If they refused or breached these inhumane contracts, they were arrested. This was also one of the earliest examples of the country’s problematic history of discriminately incarcerating people of color—a tactic of systemic slavery on its own, even if it is reportedly becoming less prevalent. 

Even if people of color refuted the Black Codes and were arrested, prisoners were still subjected to prison labor, where they were even privately leased to work at plantations, parties and houses. This “convict leasing” only bolstered the prisons financial gain, as inmates typically were not compensated for their work—and if they were, it was minimal even comparatively to present wages.

Though the act of leasing inmates to work for private companies throughout the country might seem like it inspired the first for-profit prisons in the US, it didn’t. The first for-profit prison started in 1852, but a streamline of these privatized prisons exploded in the 1980s. Though many states revoked these leases, prisoners were used to substitute vacant positions when members of the workforce went on strike. While inmates involuntarily filled these positions, simultaneously earning less pay than the actually contracted workers were protesting, it wasn’t until 1923 that prison conditions were even inspected. That’s right: For decades, inmates were forced to work and live in the justice system without the basic right to report dangerous conditions (but the construction of the Office of Prison Inspection was only available to Alabama at this time).

The prison labor problem only continued on its path of slowly becoming a watered down issue throughout the states. However, that shouldn’t overshadow modern prisoners’ qualms. In recent history, prisoners often earn a mere $1.75 per day for cooking for a horde of inmates or stitching uniforms, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Mother Jones notes that the current prison strike is gaining nationwide momentum; however, the number of participants behind this monumental protest is still unclear. Still, the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is reporting timely updates on prisoners’ demands and prisons involved in the strike. More notably, some prisoners in scattered locations throughout Washington, California, South Carolina, and Georgia are allegedly incorporating hunger strikes in their protests.

Advocates for the ongoing strike note that the lack of transparency in US prisons has contributed to the inhumane conditions and unlivable pay. “Prisons are allowed to be the terrible places they are because, despite being public institutions that we fund and are run in our name, we are allowed no look at what goes on inside,” Heather Ann Thompson, a historian and author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy, tells The Atlantic.

Like this isn’t the first documented justice system blunder, this isn’t the first prison strike in US history. Arguably (though, imo, inarguably), the entire justice system needs to be thrown away and completely overhauled. As inmates and advocates alike continue to protest this “modern-day slavery,” The Cut notes that there are ways to support and contribute to this movement.