By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on February 2, 2025
An Editorial Opinion
In 1865, America outlawed private ownership of slaves, but the country did not abolish all forms of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment expressly authorized slavery within the nation’s prison systems and jails. Incarcerated inmates are “slaves of the state,” according to the Virginia Supreme Court in Ruffin v. Commonwealth, 62 Va. 790 (1871).
The U.S. has 1,566 state prisons, 122 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 142 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories. On any given day, these systems hold over 1.9 million “slaves of the state.”
The Convict Leasing Plan
Today, President Donald Trump and First Buddy Elon Musk plan to use prison slavery to provide a captive workforce that can be easily substituted for the one created by illegal migrants in America. The Trump administration has targeted these migrants for mass roundup and deportation.
On January 31, 2025, Musk, who grew up as a privileged member of South Africa's white society during the country's apartheid era, showcased El Salvador’s recently implemented convict leasing program on X (formerly Twitter). Musk proclaimed, “This is the way.” https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1885568627992129879
El Salvador is using prison laborers to build roads, hospitals, and schools; manufacture clothing and furniture; grow and harvest crops; and clean the countries rivers. The country's convict leasing program does not use imprisoned rapist and murders.
Convict Leasing in the U.S. was Abolished in 1941
Convict leasing began in the U.S. during the Reconstruction era, shortly after the Civil War. The practice involved selling the forced labor of state and federal prisoners to private businesses. It was widely viewed as a form of legally permissible slavery, particularly within states that made up the Confederacy.
The practice peaked about 1880 and persisted in various forms until it was abolished by President Franklin D. Roosevelt via U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle's "Circular 3591," dated December 12, 1941. Trump is expected to revoke Circular 3591 via an Executive Order.
Today, state and federal inmates are forced to work whatever jobs are assigned to them, onsite or offsite. They are paid from 12¢ to $1.41 per hour, depending upon the jobs they perform. "Slaves of the state" are not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act or Workers’ Compensation statutes.
The Goals of the Trump-Musk Convict Leasing Plan
The Trump-Musk convict leasing plan, which has not yet been publicly announced, seeks to accomplish four of Trump’s economic goals:
Provide a never-ending domestic supply of inmate labor that can be worked like private sector "slaves."
Lease “slaves of the state” to private sector employers at hourly rates that are far below the market rates for private sector employees.
Create windfall profits for prison systems and private sector employers who will use leased convict labor on farms and ranches, at poultry, fish, and meat processing plants, on construction jobs, in restaurants, at janitorial firms, at landscaping companies, as truck drivers, and in a host of other laborer jobs.
Ramp up the convict labor supply pool, as needed, by imprisoning greater numbers of historically disadvantaged population groups in new supersized prisons.
The Trump-Musk convict leasing plan is expected to be quickly embraced in states controlled by MAGA governors and legislatures.
The plan will exclude violent offenders and sex offenders as eligible participants. All other state and federal prisoners will have no choice but to participate in the plan.