I do not think you can equate making prisoners work with slavery. Other countries do the same, and it is not regarded as slavery in general.
If people were sold into slavery as a punishment (so they became some one else's property) as some ancient societies did, then that would clearly be slavery.
The most shocking thing about prisons in the US is how common prison rape is, and the extent to which it seems to be regarded as a joke. The majority of rapes in the US are prison rapes. How can that not be anything but an appalling problem?
Rape is also something slaves are casually subject to in most slave societies. It was definitely accept that Roman slave owners were free to rape men, women and children they owned.
The US Constitution's 13th Amendment abolishing slavery specifically allows it for convicted people. [1]
You'll see from the definition of a "slave" [2] that prisoner labor specifically fits the definition of a slave, hence why the constitution makes an exception for it.
If people were sold into slavery as a punishment (so they became some one else's property) as some ancient societies did, then that would clearly be slavery.
The most shocking thing about prisons in the US is how common prison rape is, and the extent to which it seems to be regarded as a joke. The majority of rapes in the US are prison rapes. How can that not be anything but an appalling problem?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_rape_in_the_United_Stat...
Rape is also something slaves are casually subject to in most slave societies. It was definitely accept that Roman slave owners were free to rape men, women and children they owned.