Voters in & states have approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery & involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, while those in a fifth state rejected a flawed version of the question.
The measures approved Tuesday could curtail the use of prison labor in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee & Vermont.
In Louisiana, a former slave-holding state & 1 of a handful that sentences convicted felons to hard labor, lawmakers trying to get rid of forced prisoner labor ended up torpedoing their own measure. They told voters to reject it because the ballot measure included ambiguous language that did not prohibit involuntary servitude in the criminal justice system.
“It is time for all Americans to come together & say that it must be struck from the U.S. Constitution. There should be no exceptions to a ban on slavery,” Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat said.
More than a dozen states still have constitutions that include language permitting slavery & involuntary servitude for prisoners. Several other states have no constitutional language for or against the use of forced prison labor.
Today, prison labor is a multibillion-dollar practice. By comparison, workers can make pennies on the dollar. And prisoners who refuse to work can be denied privileges such as phone calls & visits with family, as well as face solitary confinement, all punishments that are eerily similar to those used during antebellum slavery.
#labor #prisonlabor #involuntaryservitude #slavery #slaves #13thamendment #lousiana #utah #colorado #vermont #alabama #oregon #tennesse #prisoners #inmates #forcedlabor #thisiswrong #stopthisnow #standtogether #usa #america
Source: AP
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