Don't worry. New York only selectively enforces these types of things.

> What state allows for-profit organizations to solicit unpaid volunteer labor from people outside of prison?

I'm not aware of a state that allows that for people inside prison, either. Well, not technically. They get paid, it's just a lot less than someone on the outside would make.

Why should a state be able to stop me from doing whatever I want with my own time? It's my decision to do things with a group of others, not the government's.

Two reasons.

From a social justice perspective, allowing free labor is an insult to human dignity and leech in society. It is often associated with coercive behavior, and when events happen, like “workplace” injuries, society is stuck with cleaning up the mess.

From a revenue perspective, free labor is an untaxed gift to the company, and it’s highly likely that “free” really means compensation by some indirect, off book means.

A corporation isn’t a group of friends. You’re welcome to do anything in a group or charitable endeavor.

> "a social justice perspective, allowing free labor is an insult to human dignity and leech in society"

...... no, it isn't. The state does not own me. I should be free to do what I want with whomever I want. Not just whatever you deem to be "in a group or charitable endeavor".

Prison isn't volunteer labor. Its compulsory. I.e. Slavery and the exception built into the constitution.

What are unpaid internships if not unpaid volunteer labor?

There are specific criteria that should be met for an internship to be offered without payment. Generally, an unpaid internship must be purely educational, not displace employees, employer does not derive profit from the intern, and there is no expectation of a job offer at the end.

At my employer, interns are effectively additional staff for the duration of their employment, so they are paid market wages. The main difference between their position and that of a junior employee is hourly wages vs salaried.

Massively Massively Abused by a lot of industries like Media (the trades especially) and Fashion.

A quick Google suggests some difference in the US, in law if not practice. In particular that the internship experience is for the benefit of the intern and the company derives no immediate benefit from the intern's activities (and may even be impeded by them)

A: Big compliance issues!

Most employers that I’ve work with that utilize unpaid interns do so through a college to ensure a linkage to the interns development.

Outside of that, it’s cheaper to pay minimum wage than to deal with the overhead of making sure your managers follow the rules.