Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Justice Studies

First Advisor

Maurice McFarlin

Abstract

This study examines the harms of exploitative prison labor through examining the loophole in the 13th amendment of the United States Constitution. I build an argument that the wording of the 13th amendment needs to be modified to close this loophole in all states. Additionally, through framing prison labor as a form of human trafficking, I argue that prisoners could potentially sue to challenge the 13th amendment by applying the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). I present several case studies to describe the conditions that prisoners are exposed to, compare them to other forms of trafficking, and conclude that we need to abolish the language that makes slave labor legal in the 13th amendment.

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