National Prison Strike Highlights Historical Ties Between Labor And Incarceration

A weekslong national prison strike is underway across the U.S. Mostly organized by inmates themselves, protesters are pushing a list of demands including "an immediate end to prison slavery." They're protesting an exemption in the 13th Amendment that still allows prisoners to work for very low pay.

Here & Now's Robin Young looks at the connection between imprisonment and cheap labor with Brian Balogh (@historyfellow) and Nathan Connolly (@ndbconnolly), historians and co-hosts of the podcast "BackStory," which is produced at Virginia Humanities.