In many states there is a move to privatization of jails and prisons. Instead of being run by the Government, they will be run by private corporations for profit. The labor of the prisoner belongs to the State, but when the State transfers their interest to a private corporation, the labor of the prisoner belongs to the corporation. A corporation will run the lives of prisoners, and decide how they shall labor and what they shall labor at. Under the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, slavery is not illegal .
Slavery is illegal unless it is for conviction for a crime.
In that case, slavery is perfectly legal. Amendment XIII Section 1. 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, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Two hundred years ago, slavemasters justified their acts of enslavement by blowing all out of proportion some minor flaws of those being enslaved.