The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

Advocates note that the constitution's 13th amendment, ratified in

1865, abolished slavery in the United States, but provided an exception in

cases where persons have been 'duly convicted' in the United States and

territory it controls, slavery or involuntary servitude can be reimposed as

a punishment.

The majority of prisoners are Black and Latino, though they are minorities in terms of their numbers in the population.

The Sentencing Project: Ethnicity and The Criminal Justice System

Prisoners from the Limestone Correctional Facility do a trash detail along I-65 in North Alabama near the Tennessee State line while working on a chain gang.

America’s New Slavery: Black Men in PrisonBy Charlene Muhammad -National Correspondent

The chain gang was re-established in 1995. Becoming one of the first convicts in perhaps a half-century to break rocks, William Crook, 28, of Gadsden, Ala., takes a swing with his 10-pound sledge hammer. Shortly after sunrise, 160 inmates at the Limestone Correction Facility marched a half-mile in leg irons from their dormitories to the rock pile.

“The fact is, it’s a business and a readily accessible, ‘free’ workforce removes prisons’ incentive to rehabilitate, especially those that are owned by corporations”

Laini Coffee, a self-described “unity activist” said, “At current trend, we could very well see the number of so-called free Blacks rival to the same number of those that are incarcerated. The answer is simple: Unity.”