In The Heart Goes Last, Margaret Atwood imagines a for-profit planned community that is sustained by prison labor. The dystopian premise is based on the real-life phenomenon of prison labor in the United States.
Also known as captive labor, forced labor, and penal labor, prison labor is involuntary work that incarcerated people are forced to do while serving their prison sentences. While the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution outlaws involuntary servitude by stating: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ... shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction," the amendment allows for prison labor by making an exception in instances where the involuntary servitude is "a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
While the history of prison labor in the United States dates back to the early colonial period, it gained significant momentum during the 19th century. The introduction of the Auburn system and the Pennsylvania system in the 1820s and 1830s, respectively, marked the emergence of prison labor as a means of punishment and rehabilitation. These systems imposed strict discipline on prisoners and introduced the idea of making incarcerated people work as a form of would-be moral and vocational training. In the post–Civil War era, prison labor became closely tied to the reconstruction of the Southern economy. Convict leasing, a system where prisoners were leased to private companies, plantations, and mines, became widespread. This practice, primarily targeting Black Americans, effectively replaced the institution of slavery and generated significant profits for both state governments and private businesses.
During the early 20th century, the labor movement and progressive reforms led to a decline in convict leasing. However, prison labor continued to be used within correctional institutions for manufacturing goods to meet the increasing demand for consumer products. The Great Depression further amplified the reliance on prison labor as a means of providing employment and reducing costs for employers and consumers.
In recent decades, the rise of the American prison-industrial complex—a term that refers to the overlapping interests and profit-making relationships between government entities, private prison corporations, and various industries that benefit from cheap or free prison labor—has been driven by various factors. The War on Drugs, starting in the 1970s, resulted in an exponential increase in the number of people incarcerated for drug offenses. The privatization of prisons also gained momentum in the 1980s, with private corporations taking over the operation of correctional facilities. This shift created a profit-driven motive that incentivized high incarceration rates and influenced policy decisions related to sentencing and parole.
The exploitation of prison labor within the prison-industrial complex is a contentious issue. The 800,000 prison laborers in the U.S. (two-thirds of the 1.2 million incarcerated people) often work for extremely low wages or no compensation at all, with average wages for federal inmates landing at less than $1.15 per hour, compared to the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Many regular legal protections against labor exploitation and abuse have been stripped for these workers, and despite contributing to a multi-billion-dollar industry, prison laborers are not counted in official employment statistics, even while industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, call centers, and government agencies have utilized prison labor to cut costs and increase profitability. Critics argue that this system creates unfair competition with non-incarcerated workers, perpetuates a cycle of poverty and recidivism, and raises ethical concerns about forced labor and exploitation. With disproportionately higher rates of incarceration for Black Americans, some have called prison labor a reinvented form of slavery.
Currently, there are growing movements advocating for criminal justice reform and an end to the exploitation of prison labor. Organizations and activists are pushing for alternatives to incarceration, reducing the reliance on private prisons, and promoting fair and humane treatment of incarcerated individuals. However, the prison-industrial complex remains a complex and deeply ingrained aspect of the American criminal justice system.
