Likely referring to the millions of people who are subjected to forced prison labor either without pay or for less than $1 an hour by for-profit prisons. This system has direct historical roots in the chattel slave economy, and even served as a direct drop-in replacement for chattel slaves on the very same plantations after the 13th amendment prohibited slavery except as punishment for a crime.

To this day the profit motive creates a perverse incentive for the owners of for-profit prisons to fight against efforts to reduce recidivism, since recidivism is good for their business. Our prison system serves not to rehabilitate, or even to punish, but rather to exploit the waiver of prisoners’ rights that is enshrined in our constitution for profit.

We can’t outspend the health insurance industry, especially not in the long run. Legislators will always side with those who can continually give large donations and pay full-time lobbyists. It is incredibly naive - bordering on delusional - to think we can take on even just one sector of the oligarchy by working within their captured system.

Now is the time to apply pressure from the outside, organize and build our own mechanisms for affecting change. This will require solidarity, and for people to make collective and coordinated use of their agency with regards to their labor and spending.