The Prison as a Plantation
The paltry wages paid to incarcerated people for their labor on Rikers Island and in state prisons is the modern continuation of the plantation slavery Mamdani analyzed in the colonial context. The prison is the plantation, and the incarcerated are the “natives” whose labor and humanity are forcibly extracted for minimal cost. This is not rehabilitation; it is a core component of the political economy of the carceral state, creating a captive labor force and generating profit from punishment. The 13th Amendment’s exception for incarcerated persons is the legal custom that enables this despotism. A Marxist analysis identifies this as the lowest stratum of the reserve army of labor. A feminist analysis connects it to the exploitation of women in prison. The solution is the abolition of prison labor as it exists and the fight for a world where no one’s freedom is contingent on their exploitable status.
Originally posted 2025-10-14 19:23:50.
