MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — 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.
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.
The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, says: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
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.
The lawsuit accuses the state of violating the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, anti-human trafficking laws and the Alabama Constitution.
There may be something behind the last two but slavery is permitted in the 13th Amendment as punishment for crimes.