Current and former inmates announced a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Alabama’s prison labor program as a type of “modern day slavery,” saying prisoners are forced to work for little pay — and sometimes no pay — in jobs that benefit government entities or private companies.
The class action lawsuit also accuses the state of maintaining a discriminatory parole system with a low release rate that ensures a supply of laborers while also generating money for the state.
“The forced labor scheme that currently exists in the Alabama prison system is the modern reincarnation of the notorious convict leasing system that replaced slavery after the Civil War,” Janet Herold, the legal director of Justice Catalyst Law, said Tuesday.
The Alabama Department of Corrections and the Alabama attorney general’s office declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Isn’t that literally in the constitution though?
Obviously slavery is horrific
I don’t think most people are aware of that exception clause but yes, that’s exactly what it says and this sort of situation is exactly why it is phrased that way.
yeah, but we already went down this road and defeated it in court back when they were leasing inmates after the civil war.
From what I can tell, it was never defeated in court, just phased out because it was unpopular.
Also we pretty much have convict leasing now. If you want to be depressed, look up how many big companies use prison labor.
It’s the, but the slavery and/or involuntary servitude is still subject to 8A.
The first step to changing the constitution is to challenge it in a lower court.