If you thought the slavery question in America was settled
\nmore than 150 years ago, think again.<\/p>\n
Among the hundreds of referenda passed across the country in
\nthe midterm elections, voters in four states approved provisions making slavery
\nand involuntary servitude unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
While slavery was abolished in the U.S. in 1865, proponents
\nof these ballot initiatives argued that remnants of legal slavery remained on
\nthe books. And they say this isn’t about righting past wrongs but about
\nstamping out modern-day forced labor.<\/p>\n
Advocates for the change to state laws say it is needed to
\nprotect incarcerated individuals who they say are being exploited for their
\nlabor and should be able to challenge working conditions and pay that often
\namounts to less than $1 an hour or nothing at all.<\/p>\n
The 13th Amendment bans slavery and involuntary servitude
\n“except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly
\nconvicted.” <\/p>\n
Voters in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont amended
\ntheir state constitutions in November to abolish those words and ban
\ninvoluntary servitude and slavery. They follow Colorado, Nebraska and Utah,
\nwhich have passed similar amendments in recent years. Rhode Island amended its
\nconstitution banning involuntary convict labor in 1842. <\/p>\n
In Colorado, which approved making slavery and involuntary
\nservitude unconstitutional in 2018, prisoners are now challenging their working
\nconditions in court, although they haven’t gotten very far. <\/p>\n
In August, the Colorado Court of Appeals rejected inmate Mark
\nLamar\u2019s argument that he cannot be required to work under the state\u2019s new
\namendment. <\/p>\n
The court ruled the amendment “did not intend to
\nabolish the Department of Corrections inmate work program.” The court also
\nrejected Lamar\u2019s argument that the work program requirement amounted to
\ninvoluntary servitude. <\/p>\n
More legal challenges are coming in Colorado, however,
\nincluding a class-action lawsuit aimed at ending forced work in the state\u2019s
\nprison system.<\/p>\n
Advocates of the change say prisoners are being exploited by
\nlabor practices that harken back to the post-Civil War efforts to keep Black
\npeople enslaved. Southern states during the Reconstruction era would convict
\nBlack people of petty crimes and force them to work for free in jails and
\nprisons or loan them out to companies that paid fees to the states. <\/p>\n
Criminal justice advocate Bianca Tylek, executive director
\nof Worth Rises, is leading an effort to amend the Constitution to get rid of
\nthe convict labor clause.<\/p>\n
She told The Washington Times that the impact of the
\namendment on prison labor remains unknown. <\/p>\n
“Just because you\u2019ve been convicted of a crime does not
\nand should not remove your basic human rights to be protected from
\nslavery,” Ms. Tylek said. “The concern about what this means, what
\nconstitutes slavery \u2026 in many ways is going to be decided in the coming years
\nby the courts.”<\/p>\n
The courts, she said, have not defined slavery or
\ninvoluntary servitude but litigation could result in prisoners getting paid
\nreal wages for labor while incarcerated, or it could put an end to forced
\nlabor.<\/p>\n
“Could it be that ending involuntary servitude means
\nthat you can\u2019t force people to work?” Ms. Tylek said. “It could
\nperhaps, and in fact, we hope it does.”<\/p>\n
Law enforcement officials and critics of the amendments say
\nit could end work training and rehabilitative programs that often pay nothing,
\nor it could require prisons to greatly expand their budgets to pay wages to
\nprisoners who do much of the work to run the facilities.<\/p>\n
California\u2019s Democrat-led legislature in June rejected a ballot
\nproposal to end involuntary servitude for prisoners after the state Department
\nof Finance warned it would cost $1.5 billion to pay prisoners the minimum wage.<\/p>\n
In Oregon, voters approved the referendum over the
\nobjections of the state Sheriff\u2019s Association, which argued that the change
\nwould create unintended consequences by relabeling as involuntary servitude the
\nvoluntary work programs that pay little or nothing but often reduce jail
\ntime. <\/p>\n
“Sheriffs will have no choice but to suspend all
\nreformative programs due to this inherent coercion,” the association wrote
\nin November. “Local funding will have to be allocated for all of the vital
\npositions currently held by [inmates].”<\/p>\n
The association did not respond to a request for an
\ninterview about the new amendment. <\/p>\n
Advocates for ending free and forced prison labor are
\nexpanding their efforts to pass amendments in states while Ms. Tylek\u2019s
\norganization is working with Congress members on the much more difficult task
\nof passing an amendment to the Constitution that would eliminate the 14 words
\nthat permit involuntary servitude for incarcerated individuals.<\/p>\n
Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat, introduced legislation
\nin the Senate while Rep. Nikema Williams, a Georgia Democrat, sponsored a House
\nversion. <\/p>\n
“The loophole in our constitution\u2019s ban on slavery not
\nonly allowed slavery to continue but launched an era of discrimination and mass
\nincarceration that continues to this day,” Mr. Merkley said. “To live
\nup to our nation\u2019s promise of justice for all, we must eliminate the Slavery
\nClause from our constitution.”<\/p>\n
The legislation went nowhere in the 117th Congress. It is
\nlikely to stall again in the Republican-run House. <\/p>\n
The Constitution was last amended in 1992. The process first
\nrequires passage of the amendment by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress
\nfollowed by the approval of 38 states.<\/p>\n
Ms. Tylek isn\u2019t discouraged, pointing out the red states
\nthat passed referendums banning involuntary servitude for prisoners, including
\n80% of voters in Tennessee. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“This is an issue that everyone can get on board
\nbecause if we remember, it was the Republicans that actually abolished slavery
\nthe first time,” Ms. Tylek said. “The reality is that everyone
\nacross the board can say slavery is wrong. All of the time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you thought the slavery question in America was settled more than 150 years ago, think again. Among the hundreds of referenda passed across the country in the midterm elections, voters in four states approved provisions making slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional. While slavery was abolished in the U.S. in 1865, proponents of these ballot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n