Matthew Miner's Marvelous Maps

Forced Penal Labor Laws Map

Forced labor, a.k.a. slavery, is generally a widely-condemned practice. Violating the free will of another person and forcing him to work for you is an evil thing for a one human to do to another. However, putting people in prison inherently violates their free will to punish them for their crimes. Where countries like the United States and Mexico specifically ban slavery in their constitutions, they also have specific exceptions for enslaving inmates. It is often excused or even encouraged to force prisoners to work while they are incarcerated. The rationales range from a deterrent punishment to forcing them to repay society with the fruits of their labor to merely encouraging positive habits and training prisoners to be employed after their releases. While historically prisoners have done back-breaking menial labor like mining or powering treadmills, modern penal labor usually comprises chores around the prison, growing crops, or factory work like the stereotypical license plate stamping. While the horrors of slavery and the opportunity for abuse of the government's power have still led many countries to outlaw mandatory prison labor, many others do not and continue to obligate prisoners to work if the prison says so. Note however that this is just what the law says. Often countries will allow forced labor legally but not have nearly enough jobs for prisoners to do even just for those that want to work so in practice it is rarely ubiquitous. Also note that prisoners are usually paid nowadays, though typically far below what would otherwise be the minimum wage.

Current as of 2025.

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