The original context here was human rights in China, and what we see is that the US both has far higher prison population per capita, and that it is being as slave labor which is a significant factor in certain sectors of the economy.
Your whole argument about the percentage overall economy is nonsensical because most of the US economy is not actual productive economy. It's ephemeral stuff like service industry, entertainment, and software development. Obviously, you're not going to force prisoners to go on Joe Rogan podcasts. But when it comes actually producing things, 17% of the industry being done by slave labor is obviously very significant.
Your whole argument about the percentage overall economy is nonsensical because most of the US economy is not actual productive economy. It's ephemeral stuff like service industry, entertainment, and software development. Obviously, you're not going to force prisoners to go on Joe Rogan podcasts. But when it comes actually producing things, 17% of the industry being done by slave labor is obviously very significant.