'chain gangs' from the earlier prison labor system
While there's an argument for each of those perspectives, one thing is certain: Because the U.S. leads the world in the number of people living behind bars, and because businesses already realize that plentiful, dirt-cheap prison labor could be a panacea, prison labor is not only going to continue, but as more inmates are "harvested," as more of them are trained in diverse industries, it's likely to expand exponentially.
The U.S. used to be recognized as the entrepreneurial capital of the world. Today (thanks largely to our unenlightened drug laws), we're recognized as the prison capital of the world. Just as Mr. Chocolate and Mr. Peanut Butter fortuitously met to form Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, the obvious next step was to combine the two. Prisoners, meet your new employers.
