Why aren't prisoners forced to work in prison?

Slavery is illegal. Oh whoops, slavery was banned in the Constitution “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted”. So, slavery is legal in prison. read more

So now, we consider it mostly illegal due to being cruel and unusual to force labor. Some forced labor exists in prison, even if as small as being forced to make your own bed, but for the most part, forced license-plate-making days are over. 11 Products Made by Prisoners These days, they make them voluntarily, to get benefits and trivial pay. read more

As for some of the other inmates, in my state, we do contract out extra help on these projects. This helps the Union get more contracts, the non-inmates get more money because they don't have to pay union wage to the inmates AND the union contractor's get a bonus for finishing the work ahead of time because of the inmates filling in the gaps. read more