Nuri and I talked about this on the drive home from work today.
I think the primary ethical issue of using prison labor for any purpose comes down to fair compensation. In theory, giving prisoners jobs that directly benefit society could be a way to build market skills and ease re-integration after release…
But in practice, that’s not how it goes. Prisoners are paid so little it doesn’t matter, and their jobs are often so menial that they are basically being trained to be low-wage laborers for life. Set them back, impede progress, force them into a particular mold.
IF prison labor paid a fair wage, and equipped prisoners with the skills needed to succeed after release, we would have a solid foundation on which to rehabilitate. A work-release program, in a capitalist economy, is probably the least we owe to people deprived of liberty. And I mean, you need effective workers, so equipping them with skills is just good for the economy.
But the US doesn’t want that, we want to punish people, and so long as we do that prison labor will always be exploitative.
I think it’s less bad to produce a non-commercial product for government use to solve a public health crisis - as opposed to, say, turning prison labor into private sweatshops for for-profit corporations. That’s probably not arguable, but it’s also not a terribly high bar.
Capitalism builds no-win situations on purpose to normalize making the “less bad” choice, ensuring we never get to make good choices.