Kudos to the author for aptly describing it as slavery instead of using ‘indentured servitude’, ‘mandatory employment’, or some other milquetoast descriptor.
There was a story in the local news the other day about how county prisoners were growing food for food banks and it was reported like it was a good thing. Slaves growing food so private charities can give them to the poor as a good thing.
I don’t think they have a case. Slavery is explicitly constitutional as punishment for a crime, per the 13th Amendment. That needs to be fixed first.
Lawyers say these policies violate Amendment A, which was approved by Colorado voters in 2018 and bans the state from “engaging in slavery or involuntary servitude” under any circumstances.
Valerie Collins, an attorney from Towards Justice, said the case isn’t about prohibiting all prison labor.
“All our clients are demanding is that the state stops forcing people to work,” she said, in a statement. “The state could remedy these constitutional violations today if it wanted to.”
Idk kinda sounds like they do.
