Actually in most of the US prisoners are explicitly required or just “encouraged” to work (“More than three quarters of incarcerated people surveyed (76%) report facing punishment—such as solitary confinement, denial of sentence reductions, or loss of family visitation—if they decline to work.”) And of course if they get compensated at all it’s typically literal pennies per hour. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/us-prison-labor-programs-violate-fundamental-human-rights-new-report-finds

But you’re right that the lack of alternative leisure time activities definitely encourages getting jacked and reading.

I took a trip to Mumbai last year and immediately developed a cold after arriving. When I mentioned it to my friends I was there to see they said that’s totally normal for people visiting just due to the air pollution. It’s no joke.

And then imagine living in New Delhi where the air pollution is on average nearly 3x worse than Mumbai.