Title 18Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-73

§436 Convict labor contracts

Title 18 › Part PART I— - CRIMES › Chapter CHAPTER 23— - CONTRACTS › § 436

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Makes it illegal for a federal official to arrange or allow the hiring out of prisoners confined for violating U.S. laws. Penalty: a federal fine, up to three years in prison, or both.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §436

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Whoever, being an officer, employee, or agent of the United States or any department or agency thereof, contracts with any person or corporation, or permits any warden, agent, or official of any penal or correctional institution, to hire out the labor of any prisoners confined for violation of any laws of the United States, shall be fined under this title 11 See 1994 Amendment note below. or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 708, 709 (Feb. 23, 1887, ch. 213, §§ 1, 2, 24 Stat. 411). This section consolidates section 708 and 709 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., as the offense and penalty provisions, respectively. Words “department or agency thereof” were inserted to clarify scope of section. See definition of department and agency in section 6 of this title. To retain uniformity words “shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and,” were omitted. The reference to misdemeanor is now covered by the definition in section 1 of this title. Words “on conviction thereof” were omitted as unnecessary since punishment can follow only upon conviction. The minimum punishment provisions “less than one year nor” and “less than $500 nor” were deleted to conform to the policy followed by codifiers of 1909 Criminal Code. (See reviser’s note under section 203 of this title.) Changes were also made in phraseology.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–322, which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”, was executed by making the substitution for “fined not more than $1,000”, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 436

Title 18Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73