18 U.S.C. § 436 — Convict labor contracts

This law targets federal officials who profit from prisoner labor. It applies to anyone who is an officer, employee, or agent of the United States or of any federal department or agency. That person breaks the law if they contract with any person or company to "hire out" the labor of prisoners — meaning prisoners who are locked up for breaking a federal law. It also applies if that official lets a warden, agent, or official at a prison or correctional institution do this hiring-out. In plain terms: no federal official may arrange for a federal prisoner's work to be rented to an outside person or business, and no federal official may allow a prison official to do so either. Anyone who violates this section can be fined under the general fine rules of this title, imprisoned for up to three years, or both.