§ 24 — Prison labor; contract system abolished

§ 24. The legislature shall, by law, provide for the occupation and\nemployment of prisoners sentenced to the several state prisons,\npenitentiaries, jails and reformatories in the state; and no person in\nany such prison, penitentiary, jail or reformatory, shall be required or\nallowed to work, while under sentence thereto, at any trade, industry or\noccupation, wherein or whereby his or her work, or the product or profit\nof his or her work, shall be farmed out, contracted, given or sold to\nany person, firm, association or corporation, provided that the\nlegislature may provide by law that such prisoners may voluntarily\nperform work for nonprofit organizations. As used in this section, the\nterm "nonprofit organization" means an organization operated exclusively\nfor religious, charitable, or educational purposes, no part of the net\nearnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or\nindividual. This section shall not be construed to prevent the\nlegislature from providing that convicts may work for, and that the\nproducts of their labor may be disposed of to, the state or any\npolitical division thereof, or for or to any public institution owned or\nmanaged and controlled by the state, or any political division thereof.\n