> many prisoners receive a bill for their incarceration and will come out of prison with debt, even if they're working while in prison.

This is true. I 100% agree with you that this is awful and should not be allowed.

> the largest maximum security prison in the united states is a slave plantation, operated continuously since the 1830s. they still farm cotton.

Fair, but only 12% of prisoners are even maximum security to begin with, and you don't end up there for slinging a little bit of pot.

On that note, I also think we send far too many people to jail and should rewrite the laws to fix that.