A Ghost of Slavery: OSHA’s De Facto Exclusion of Incarcerated Workers

Authors

• Jacqueline Glenn

Abstract

From chattel slavery to convict leasing to sharecropping to present-day prison work, exploitative labor has always had a place in the American economy. Incarcerated workers are compelled to perform long hours of dangerous work for mere pennies, often without adequate breaks and under the threat of solitary confinement, physical abuse, or other punitive measures if they refuse. Federal labor protections that shield free people from such conditions are largely unapplied to incarcerated workers, leaving them with little legal recourse. Tracing the development of involuntary labor through American history, this article contends that the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (“OSHA”) must be revised to recognize incarcerated workers as employees, thereby preserving their dignity and protecting their physical safety.

First Page

154

Recommended Citation

Jacqueline Glenn, A Ghost of Slavery: OSHA’s De Facto Exclusion of Incarcerated Workers, 10 Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev. 154 (2026).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/betr/vol10/iss1/9