Yes. Slavery is still legal in the United States under the Thirteenth Amendment, but only in one narrow form: involuntary servitude imposed as punishment on someone who has been convicted of a crime. The amendment abolished slavery in 1865 and then carved out an exception in the same sentence, and that exception is why prisons and jails across the country can legally require incarcerated people to work.
The full text reads: “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.”1Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Thirteenth Amendment Everything that follows in this article turns on the clause after that first comma.
What the Exception Clause Actually Permits
The Supreme Court has drawn a clear line around what the exception allows. In Bailey v. Alabama (1911), the Court acknowledged that a state “may impose involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime” but struck down an Alabama peonage law that pushed workers into laboring for private employers to pay off debts. Three years later, in United States v. Reynolds (1914), the Court again recognized the exception while holding that forcing a convicted person to work for a private surety who had paid their fines amounted to illegal peonage.2Congress.gov. Amdt13.S1.4 Exceptions Clause – Constitution Annotated
The rule those cases established still holds: the government can compel a convicted person to work, but it cannot funnel convicted people into forced labor for private creditors. The conviction has to be real, and the compulsion has to come from the state.
How the Exception Works Inside Prisons
Congress translated the constitutional exception into direct federal policy. Federal law states that all convicted inmates in federal prisons, jails, and detention facilities “shall work.” The recognized excuses are limited: a security concern, a disciplinary restriction, a medical disability that makes work impractical, or a reduced schedule so the person can attend literacy, drug rehabilitation, or similar programs.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 4121 – Federal Prison Industries; Board of Directors Work is a legal obligation, not an option.
State systems set their own rules, but mandatory assignments are the norm. Refusing carries real consequences. Facilities routinely strip good-time credits from people who decline to work, which lengthens the actual time served. Common additional penalties include losing phone access, visitation, or recreation, and in some facilities, solitary confinement.
Why Prison Wages Are Cents Per Hour
Because incarcerated people are not treated as “employees” under federal labor law, minimum wage protections do not apply. Courts have held that the custodial relationship between a prison and an inmate is fundamentally different from an employer-employee relationship, so the Fair Labor Standards Act does not cover prison work.4U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fair Labor Standards Act Decision
The practical result is pay measured in pennies. In federal prisons, regular job assignments pay between $0.12 and $0.40 per hour, and positions with Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) run from $0.23 to $1.15 per hour.4U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Fair Labor Standards Act Decision State prison wages vary widely, but average pay for regular assignments falls roughly between $0.14 and $0.63 per hour. In several states, incarcerated people who perform facility maintenance, kitchen work, or agricultural labor receive nothing at all.
When Private Companies Can Use Prison Labor
Private businesses can legally hire incarcerated workers through the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). The Bureau of Justice Assistance certifies state and local prison industry programs to sell prisoner-made goods in interstate commerce, which would otherwise be restricted under federal law. As of September 2022, 45 certified programs were managing at least 222 business partnerships with private companies.5Bureau of Justice Assistance. Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP)
PIECP requires workers to be paid “prevailing wages” for the work they perform. Corrections departments, however, can deduct up to 80 percent of gross wages for room and board, taxes, family support, and mandatory contributions to crime victim compensation funds.6Office of Justice Programs. Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program After deductions, a “prevailing wage” on paper can shrink to a fraction of that in the worker’s account.
Community Service Falls Under the Same Exception
The exception clause reaches beyond prison walls. Court-ordered community service, available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, is also compelled labor tied to a criminal case. When a judge orders 200 hours of roadside cleanup or work at a food bank as part of a sentence, the person performs that labor under threat of incarceration for noncompliance. Courts have treated this as permissible under the same clause that authorizes prison labor, since the person has been “duly convicted.”
Community service workers typically receive no pay and few workplace protections. They are generally not covered by minimum wage laws, workers’ compensation, or occupational safety standards that would apply to a paid employee doing the same tasks.
Forced Labor Outside a Conviction Is a Federal Crime
The exception clause reaches only as far as a valid criminal conviction. Outside that context, forced labor is a serious federal crime. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act established the federal framework for prosecuting human trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage, where someone is trapped working to pay off a debt often manipulated to be impossible to repay.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 22 USC 7101 – Purposes and Findings Federal law criminalizes the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel anyone to work.
The penalties are severe. A forced labor conviction carries up to 20 years in prison. If the offense results in death or involves kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempted killing, the sentence can rise to any term of years, up to life.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1589 – Forced Labor Sex trafficking involving minors under 14, or the use of force, carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1591 – Sex Trafficking of Children or by Force, Fraud, or Coercion Fines for individuals convicted of any federal felony can reach $250,000.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
The dividing line is a valid conviction by a court. When a judge sentences someone and the state compels them to work, the Thirteenth Amendment permits it. When anyone else uses threats or deception to compel labor, it is a federal crime.
State Bans and the Push to Amend the Constitution
A growing number of states have amended their own constitutions to strip out the slavery exception. Colorado led in 2018, when nearly two-thirds of voters approved language stating that “there shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude.” Alabama followed in 2022, banning slavery and involuntary servitude “under any circumstances.” Tennessee, Oregon, and Vermont passed their own bans through ballot initiatives the same year.
What those state bans have changed inside prisons is another matter. In Colorado, courts rejected a lawsuit arguing that mandatory prison labor violated the new constitutional language, and a state senator has pressed the corrections department to change its discipline policies voluntarily, arguing current practices violate the “spirit and the letter” of what voters approved. In Alabama, a pending lawsuit alleges the state continues to punish incarcerated people for refusing work assignments or getting fired from work-release jobs, with punishments including solitary confinement and transfer to more violent facilities. Alabama’s official position is that it does not threaten “basic rights” for refusing communal work tasks.
At the federal level, the Abolition Amendment would remove the “punishment for crime” language from the Thirteenth Amendment entirely. Representative Nikema Williams reintroduced the measure in the House in June 2023, alongside Senators Jeff Merkley and Cory Booker in the Senate.11U.S. House of Representatives. Congresswoman Nikema Williams Reintroduces the Bicameral Abolition Amendment It has not advanced to a floor vote in either chamber. Until it does, and until three-fourths of state legislatures ratify it, the exception stays exactly where it has been since 1865: in the text of the Constitution, available to any level of government to invoke against anyone convicted of a crime.