S-4143-119
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Sponsored by Cory Booker (D-NJ)
What it does
This bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to classify incarcerated workers as "employees" covered by federal minimum wage protections. It would apply to workers in both publicly operated and privately operated correctional facilities. It would also prohibit employers from counting the cost of room, board, lodging, or court-imposed fees (such as criminal justice administrative fees or court-appointed attorney fees) as part of the wages paid to incarcerated workers — meaning those costs could not be used to offset the minimum wage obligation.
Who benefits
The approximately 800,000 incarcerated people in the U.S. who perform work in correctional facilities, including those in federal UNICOR programs, state prison industries, work release programs, and private facilities. Incarcerated workers' families, who may receive financial support from higher wages. Formerly incarcerated people, who may leave prison with more savings, potentially reducing recidivism. Businesses that compete with prison labor programs and currently face a cost disadvantage. Restitution and child support recipients, as higher wages could increase actual payments made.
Who is hurt
Federal and state governments operating correctional facilities, which would face significantly higher labor costs. Private prison operators and companies that contract prison labor, whose cost structures would change substantially. Taxpayers who fund public correctional systems, who may bear increased costs. Businesses that currently benefit from low-cost prison labor contracts. State governments that rely on prison labor for public works and facility maintenance, which may need to restructure programs or budgets.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that incarcerated workers currently earn as little as $0.13 to $0.52 per hour — wages that have not meaningfully changed in decades — while performing essential labor that generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually for prison industries and government agencies. They contend that the 13th Amendment's exception for "punishment for crime" has historically been used to justify a system of near-zero compensation that disproportionately affects Black and Latino workers, and that extending FLSA coverage would reduce poverty upon release, support families, and lower recidivism rates by giving workers meaningful financial footing when they exit the system.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that extending FLSA minimum wage requirements to correctional facilities would impose enormous, unfunded costs on state and federal prison systems — potentially billions of dollars annually — that would ultimately fall on taxpayers or force the elimination of work programs that provide job training and structure. They contend that the Supreme Court and lower courts have long held that the 13th Amendment's punishment exception places incarcerated labor outside the scope of standard employment law, and that Congress has not previously treated incarceration as an employment relationship, raising serious questions about whether this bill would survive constitutional and statutory challenge.
Constitutional context
The 13th Amendment explicitly exempts "punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted" from its prohibition on involuntary servitude, and courts have historically relied on this exception to exclude incarcerated workers from FLSA coverage. Congress's authority to extend FLSA protections rests on the Commerce Clause (Art. I, §8, cl. 3), which under Wickard v. Filburn (1942) reaches economic activity with an aggregate effect on interstate commerce. Post-Loper Bright (2024), any agency rules implementing this expansion would face independent judicial scrutiny rather than deference.
Checks and balances
Congress would expand its own statutory reach by redefining "employee" under the FLSA; the Department of Labor would gain enforcement authority over correctional facilities, subject to independent judicial review of any implementing regulations under Loper Bright (2024).
Historical precedent
Courts have consistently held that incarcerated workers are not covered by the FLSA under the 13th Amendment's punishment exception, and no prior federal legislation has extended minimum wage protections to this population.