This year, 5 US states are considering amendments to their constitutions to remove language similar to the 13th Amendment. Historian Robert T. Chase joins Rattling the Bars to discuss what altering these state constitutions would really mean for incarcerated people.

Robert T. Chase is associate professor of history at Stony Brook University, State University of New York (SUNY). He is the author of We Are Not Slaves: State Violence, Coerced Labor, and Prisoners Rights in Postwar America (UNC, 2020).

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41 thoughts on “Rattling the Bars: Prison slavery in America”
  1. What a liberal joke… prisoners are not slaves… they owe money to the state/society for being arrested, prosecuted, and being locked up… the price/cost of being locked up is why they work for a few dollars per hour… The inmate is paying off the bills THEY created. No one made them commit a crime… they made a choice, and working for a few dollars is the COST of that decision. The real conversation should be shifting import to prison manufacturing and pay the inmates $ 8.00 per hour for a 10 hour day. The inmates need to leave prison with a real skill and $ 20,000 in their pockets to rent a place and start over… Stop whining about slavery…

  2. Nothing personal, but it’s painful and tedious to me to try to follow what this man is saying. Great respect and an A for effort, but I need for a news anchor or narrator to speak clearly and understandably.

  3. The United States of America is the only country on the face of the planet with privately owned for-profit prison. The United States of America has 4% of the world's population and over 25% of all the world's prisoners. Local law enforcement is set up as a extra judicial tax collector for the county they serve.

  4. WoW!!! I had no idea there was anyone that thought like I did about the way prisons are an evil and illogical idea of rehabilitaion for folks who are intelagent and and hard working!! All They need is a little love along with some porpuse direction and motivation. With that they would rule thier worlds and in turn make our whole coutry and its people better. Love your Ideas. loving my new found family. Y'all keep doing what you do! This Amaeican apprisiates you very much. You keep speaking that truth!

  5. I used to say – If we give the bastards their slaves back like they so obviously want, maybe they will leave the rest of us alone. WRONG. These soulless ghouls will not stop until ALL of us are enslaved.

  6. Private prisons are the scourge of American society! Also private prisons should not be allowed to assist lawmakers in making any laws at all!

  7. Surprised you didn't touch on the fact that the State/Prison will give you a Bill that you need to pay to cover the costs of your imprisonment.
    As a Brit when i found out about this i couldn't believe it at first, you go to Prison to pay your Debt to society not to accrue a Debt by being imprisoned.
    A dude from Cali i was speaking to a number of Years back was telling me he had been in Prison for a number of Years and while he was in his Parents had both died and his Brother too and when he got out he was left family Home in the Will ect.
    Soon after he got out and was sorting out and moved into the House he got a Bill of the state for his stay in Prison which he could not pay as he could not get employment so after a some time had passed the state placed a Lien on the House forcing him to sell to pay his Prison Bill.
    I don't understand how you accept this as a country, you go to Prison, allegedly to pay your Debt???????

  8. (Not so) Fun fact: There are more black men imprisoned in the U.S. than their are women int he ENTIRE WORLD!!

  9. So we should pay the prisoners? First off, it was the inmates choice to commit the crime, the inmate knew the consistency when he committed the crime. He made the choice. If we do end up paying them then we would raise everyone's taxes to pay the #slaves#. So we will be paying the murders, drug
    Dealers, and child molesters……..clown

  10. This is evil racist country, they always have still wanted slavery, destruction and punishment from God is coming and basically here,

  11. I was in prison for 5 years. What prisoners really want is to be able to work and make money. You need money to buy things like deodorant and shampoo.

  12. Thank you for this excellent discussion. The profit motive, and system of white supremacy, infuse and pervade many of our laws and institutions, and even our foreign policy. The entire system needs an overhaul.

  13. My friend Jason, who serve 26 years in Texas prisons, said he intentionally caused trouble, to keep himself in maximum security, so as to be left alone, as he didn’t want to be enslaved working for pennies.
    How many people in prison follow these same actions to get away from the slavery system that’s run in these prisons?
    Also, how many politicians are invested in prisons systems that maximize profits over the workers???

  14. Let's not forget that prison labor also helps to drive down wages across the board. It's a lose/lose situation for everybody except the ownership class.

  15. At list It looks to me that US have took those not only nazi officials to put in Cia and other structures, but nazist ideology as well. It is so clear now, when Azov's criminals are going to schools to promote their "ideology".

  16. You Have the Right… NOT in the Governments Blue Gestapo Police State! The Government Enforcers, ATF, FBI, & IRS are coming for you!
    You have the "Right" until the Government takes it Away! We call that a "Privilege" granted by your Ruling Masters to suit their needs not yours!
    The freedoms we forfeit today are the freedoms our children will never know tomorrow. May your “Rights” RIP.
    When the Government’s Boot is on your throat, weather it is a LEFT Boot, RIGHT Boot, or a BLUE GESTAPO Boot is of NO Consequence! It is still the Government Boot!
    The Beatings Will Continue… Until Your Compliance Improves… they want good Unarmed Obedient Slaves!
    Major General Smedley Butler USMC – "There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights!
    Privacy, Freedom, & Liberty for the People! Accountability & Mandatory Minimums for the Oppressive Government & their Crimes against the Citizens!.”
    When has the Government Passed a LAW to Protect your “Rights” or Grant you more “Privileges”? NEVER
    Has anyone else noticed… every time the Government passes a Law… the People Lose their Quality of Life, Money, Privacy, Liberty, and Rights while the Ruling Masters become wealthier?

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