I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Tuesday, March 2nd.

Who profits when people get put away? Every Tuesday evening through May 4th, the green space in partnership with the advocacy

group Worth arises is holding a virtual panel discussion about one aspect of the business side

of the prison industry, and we are having a segment previewing those weekly discussions

on Mondays or Tuesdays here on the Brian Lair show. We've talked about prison architecture in this series and design

and companies that contract to fill vacancies and make training videos

among correctional staff.

And today we're going to talk about prison labor.

Prison labor has been a part of the U.S. economy since at least

the late 19th century. Today, incarcerated people do everything from agriculture to janitorial work,

to building office furniture, making hand sanitizer, staffing call centers, and doing 3D modeling.

It's a multi-billion dollar industry. But the average wage

for an incarcerated worker is 30 to 60 cents an hour. There are five states that do not pay

incarcerated workers at all. And part of the reason states can pay little to nothing for labor is

because of language in the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Yes, the one that outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, but it had a loophole.

The 13th Amendment says, quote, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."

That language has come to be known as the slavery loophole among critics who say slave labor is continuing inside our correctional institutions.

My next guest is Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.

He's one of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate, leading the effort to amend the Constitution to get rid of the so-called slavery loophole with a joint resolution known as the abolition amendment.

Senator, it's so nice to have you on New York Public Radio. Welcome to our program.

Oh, thank you so much, Brian. Wonderful to be with you.

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