Actually in most of the US prisoners are explicitly required or just “encouraged” to work (“More than three quarters of incarcerated people surveyed (76%) report facing punishment—such as solitary confinement, denial of sentence reductions, or loss of family visitation—if they decline to work.”) And of course if they get compensated at all it’s typically literal pennies per hour.
https://news.uchicago.edu/story/us-prison-labor-programs-violate-fundamental-human-rights-new-report-finds
But you’re right that the lack of alternative leisure time activities definitely encourages getting jacked and reading.
Actually, I (and most likely the user you replied to, since we’re both on a German server) don’t live in the US and while prison labor does exist here, it’s certainly not as strongly encouraged as it is apparently in the US.
Actually in most of the US prisoners are explicitly required or just “encouraged” to work (“More than three quarters of incarcerated people surveyed (76%) report facing punishment—such as solitary confinement, denial of sentence reductions, or loss of family visitation—if they decline to work.”) And of course if they get compensated at all it’s typically literal pennies per hour. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/us-prison-labor-programs-violate-fundamental-human-rights-new-report-finds
But you’re right that the lack of alternative leisure time activities definitely encourages getting jacked and reading.
You can’t really compare incarcerated people with US state slaves.
Actually, I (and most likely the user you replied to, since we’re both on a German server) don’t live in the US and while prison labor does exist here, it’s certainly not as strongly encouraged as it is apparently in the US.
Good info, though.