Slavery also only affected criminals. A slave disobeying was considered a crime. A slave trying to escape was considered a crime.

Here’s your citation:

Taylor Farms is facing attention on multiple fronts. The produce supplier has been connected to a cyclospora outbreak tied to shredded lettuce sold through supermarkets and fast-food chains across the country.

At the same time, older reporting about the company's use of prison labor has reentered the conversation, raising new concerns about its labor practices.

What's happening?

These young incarcerated firefighters are also being exploited for theri labour. So, please donate to:

Or donate directly to their commissaries if you can (I'm not sure if I can becos I'm not American):

this is absolutely not a "go vote or you're evil!" post BUT you should know that if you're registered to vote in Oregon, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, or Vermont you have the opportunity to vote to abolish prison slavery this year, and i think you should strongly consider it.

from the washington post:

"The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bans slavery or involuntary servitude, except when it is used as punishment for a crime.

If passed, the proposals would wholly abolish slavery in those states, though they would not automatically change protocols on prison labor or inmate pay.

[...] the bills could give lawyers more license to pursue greater rights and higher pay for U.S. prisoners; Dolovich said that paying inmates below the minimum-wage protections set by each state is arguably 'a species of slavery.'

'It’ll be a fight in court. This question will be manifested by lawyers bringing cases on behalf of incarcerated workers,' she said. 'It’s a hopeful sign for me.'"

(Source; warning for more detailed discussion of prison slavery and related cruelty in the article)

When the United States ratified the 13th amendment in 1865, federal lawmakers very nearly outlawed slavery for good — but not entirely. Tucked within arguably the most important corner of the US constitution is a massive caveat: “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States” (emphasis added.)

In the 160-some years since that amendment, a quieter type of forced servitude has lived on in the US: prison labor. From the debt peonage of the post-Civil War reconstruction era to the privatized contracting of the 21st century, prison labor is a massive money maker, generating $11 billion worth of revenue in 2022 alone.

As horrifying a thought as it is, one of the companies still benefiting from the practice is in the news for another reason: spreading a gut-busting diarrhea parasite through mass-produced shredded lettuce in grocery stores and fast food outlets.

It turns out that Taylor Farms, the agricultural company widely believed to be behind the cyclospora outbreak currently raging throughout the US, is also heavily involved in modern-day forced labor.

Constructed response questions:

Drawing upon your prior knowledge, list a few products that would have been produced using slave labor prior to emancipation.

Other than that the African slave trade, what kind of working conditions would you consider to justify something being called slave labor?

If the Confederacy had won the civil war, or the union had never outlawed slavery, what kinds of products do you think would be produced using slave labor today?

How would you react if you found out that slave labor was still being practiced in America to produce things that you use in your daily life?

Listen to one or more of the following stories, then revisit your answers. What did you learn, and how does that change how you feel?