The problem is the prisons are for profit.

Prisons get money from state for taking care of prisoners

Prisons put workers to work at slave wages.

State reps get kickbacks from Prisons to encourage more incarceration.

Police happily target black people and minorities and get them sent to prison

Prisoners work for slave wages

Rinse repeat.

If the Prisons were state run not for profit, this might work out better, but that’s often not the case.