[froh]

I get how you could read it that way, and of course the state as the thing that is collecting taxes and paying whatever does not profit.

and the state as all citizens, including those affected by gang and drug related violence also would benefit from dong things differently.

it's those who benefit off the current prison labor system who lobby to keep it running, and they make it seem "natural" and "without alternatives"...

and "the state" (as the tax collecting entity) pays for the prisons and the inmates while the labor "providing" companies benefit off the labor.

it's a very very clever system.

enslavement without being called such.

and I agree, no, "the state" (as the totality of citizens) doesn't benefit.

only "the state" as the entity that's controlled by lobbyists and _pretends_ being by the people, for the people, that has no motivation to change this.