Prison reform is on the midterm ballot
The U.S. abolished slavery and involuntary servitude over 150 years ago. Still, a loophole in the responsible amendment has allowed another type of slavery to increase in some states — forced labor in the prison system. This midterm season, five states will be voting on bills to amend the language in their laws that permits forced labor as a criminal punishment.
Here is what you need to know about how having forced labor on midterm ballots could affect the movement for prison reform:
Why are some prisons allowed to use forced labor as punishment?
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude in America — with a notable exception, which permits states to use it to punish people convicted of a crime. Since its ratification in 1865, some states have used this loophole to force labor on prisoners. Almost 20 state constitutions still have language that reflects the loophole that permits slavery, or involuntary servitude, as criminal punishments, per The Associated Press. Only three states have removed the language from their constitutions, the first being Colorado in 2018. Nebraska and Utah followed suit two years later.
The language in some of these constitutions has encouraged and allowed corporate prisons to exploit the labor of incarcerated individuals. In a report released this summer, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote, "From the moment they enter the prison gates, incarcerated people lose the right to refuse to work."
Why are prison reform advocates pushing to abolish prison slavery?
Defendants of prison labor argue that it "provides a way to pay society back for the costs of incarceration, as well as a pathway to correct deviant behavior and possibly find personal redemption," that it "helps cultivate self-esteem, self-worth, and the sense that one's existence on this Earth matters," and that prisoners shouldn't be allowed to "sit with idle hands when the rest of us must work to put a roof over our heads and food in our bellies," The Atlantic writes.
But critics have scrutinized the language that paved the way for exploitative prison labor since it initially passed, AP reports. The language permitting forced labor as a criminal punishment encouraged former Confederate states to take advantage of the 13th Amendment to maintain a labor force to replace what they lost with the abolition of chattel slavery. They used strict laws, known as the "Black codes," to over-police Black people for offenses as minor as talking too loudly. For violating these mandates, the people targeted were imprisoned and forced to do free labor.
The ACLU prison labor report shows that nearly 800,000 prisoners make up the prison labor industry. Those laborers produce $2 billion worth of goods and commodities a year. They contribute $9 billion a year in services to keep prisons running. In exchange, they are paid an average of 52 cents an hour nationally — or nothing in seven states. Some are left with less than half of what they earn after taxes.
A Bureau of Justice Statistics survey revealed that 76 percent of incarcerated workers said that their prison mandated working, or else they risked facing additional punishment such as solitary confinement or loss of visitation privileges, the ACLU reports. The prison does not allow them to make decisions about the type of work they do, and sometimes prisoners are subject to discriminatory or punitive measures by the administrators who handle work assignments. Incarcerated workers are also excluded from the protection of U.S workplace laws, such as minimum wage, workplace safety, or the right to unionize.
"If we think about striking down slavery, we have to address not just the wage issue, but the issue of human rights in our prisons," Robert Chase, associate professor and director of Historians Against Slavery, told the Post. "These are ongoing struggles over not just prison labor, but the entirely human-degrading system of violence that is central to how we've structured our prisons."
Which states are voting on forced labor in prisons this fall?
This November, voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Vermont, and Tennessee will have the chance to vote on measures to eliminate or adjust the language in their constitutions that allow prisons to use exploitative labor as a punishment.
In Tennessee, Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D) first proposed the change in 2019, and after a complicated journey through legislative checkpoints, it will finally be on the ballot this fall. Akbari worked with the state Department of Corrections to ensure that her proposal would not prohibit inmate labor, per AP. The proposed language change in Tennessee will differentiate between forced and voluntary prison labor: "Slavery and involuntary servitude are forever prohibited. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime."
Alabama voters will be able to vote on a revised edition of their state constitution that includes ridding the document of racist language and making the document more accessible for citizens, CNN reports.
Louisiana voters will similarly vote yes or no on the question, "Do you support an amendment to prohibit the use of involuntary servitude except as it applies to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice?"
In Oregon, voters will vote on an amendment that removes the punishment exception from the 13th Amendment. If the measure is successfully passed, it will replace forced labor with "programs to be ordered as part of sentencing," such as education, counseling, treatment, and community service, per CNN.
Vermont voters will also face the question of amending language that allows for forced labor as a criminal punishment. Democrat Dick McCormack, the only person to vote against the initiative in the state Senate, called the move "merely symbolic" and an "underwhelming response to the legitimate demands of Black people," CNN reports.
If the bills pass, what could that mean for the prison reform movement?
Prison reform advocates believe that if the bills pass in their respective states, it could boost the efforts of their movement to address concerns about how prisoners are treated. However, legal experts note that ballot measures would not immediately affect prison labor protocols or inmate pay rates, The New York Times reports.
Prison reform experts believe the bills would be a symbolic win that would encourage open dialogue about the widespread problems with the U.S. prison system, per the Post. The ACLU reports that the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration globally, disproportionately affecting Black people. The bills could also give attorneys more leeway to lobby for better rights and higher pay for U.S. prisoners, per the Post.
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