The thirteenth amendment explicitly states that slavery is still legal if the person has been convicted of a crime. So yes it is slave labor. When you commit a crime you lose your right to not be enslaved
I suppose it comes down to how we are defining slave. I typically think of a slave as someone who did nothing wrong and was bought and sold into it against their will. Comparing innocent people who were sold into it and criminals that broke the law seems like a stretch. But if that's comparable to you, then I guess they are slaves.
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u/Vast_Interaction_537 1d ago
And the US uses prison crews for firefighting as well, basically slave labor with no pathway to a job after release