....Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). The PIECP is a federal program first authorized under the Justice System Improvement Act of 1979.[6] Approved by Congress in 1990 for indefinite continuation, the program legalizes the transportation of prison-made goods across state lines and allows prison inmates to earn market wages in private sector jobs that can go towards tax deductions, victim compensation, family support, and room and board.[7][8]

Firms including those in the technology and food industries are often provided tax incentives to contract prison labor, commonly at below market rates.[10] The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) serves as a federal tax credit that grants employers $2,400 for every work-release employed inmate.[11] "Prison in-sourcing" has grown in popularity as an alternative to outsourcing work to countries with lower labor costs. A wide variety of companies such as Whole Foods, McDonald's, Target, IBM, Texas Instruments, Boeing, Nordstrom, Intel, Wal-Mart, Victoria's Secret, Aramark, AT&T, BP, Starbucks, Microsoft, Nike, Honda, Macy's and Sprint and many more actively participated in prison in-sourcing throughout the 1990s and 2000s.[12] After the 2021 storming of the US Capitol, it was noted that FPI would receive priority when the federal government purchases products such as office furniture to replace what was damaged in the riots.[13]

Penal labor is allowed by the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which outlaws slavery, "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."[14] Unconvicted detainees awaiting trial cannot be forced to participate in labor programs in prison as this would violate the Thirteenth Amendment. Critics of the prison labor system argue that the portrayal of prison expansion as a means of creating employment opportunity is a particularly harmful element of the prison–industrial complex in the United States.

Some believe that reducing the economic drain of prisons at the expense of an incarcerated populace prioritizes personal financial gain over ensuring payment of societal debt or actual rehabilitation of criminals.[15] Prisoners are required to work if medically able. Job assignments usually include employment in areas such as food service or warehouse, plumber, painter, groundskeeper, or inmate orderly.[16] According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Inmates earn 12-40 cents per hour for these jobs, far below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.[16]...

The Prison-Industries Act allowed third-party companies to buy prison manufactured goods from prison factories and sell the products locally or ship them across state lines.[62] Through the program PIECP (Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program ), there were "thirty jurisdictions with active [PIE] operations." in states such as Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and twelve others.[62]