Forced prison labor is modern-day slavery in California

Although it feels like all eyes are on the US presidential race, there are a number of other important issues that will be on the ballot across the country this election. One of those issues is in the Golden State, which happens to have the nation’s second largest prison population, just behind Texas. This November, Californians are going to have the opportunity to end involuntary servitude in prisons. It’s been some 160 years since the 13th Amendment was passed, so I’d say now is the time to end this form of modern day slavery. Ending prison labor is a crucial step toward aligning the criminal justice system with principles of fairness, human rights and rehabilitation, rather than continuing a legacy of exploitation and systemic inequity linked to slavery, no matter how you swing it, forced prison labor violates basic human rights. Forcing incarcerated people to work without pay or with minimal compensation is a modern form of slavery. It undermines human dignity. Foremost, these individuals should have the choice of whether they labor or not. They shouldn’t be exploited, particularly through no or low wages. And on that note, if they are compensated, inmates today are often paid at rates that are as low as a few cents per hour. That is ridiculous. These individuals are good enough to fight fires in California that save our lives, but they’re not good enough to receive a human wage. Yeah, that’s unacceptable. Prisoners who choose to work should be awarded time credits, or at least be paid decent wages that allow them to support their families, pay restitution, or even just save for re entry into society. Forced prison labor also has to end because it’s an extension of the practices that were justified under slavery, which disproportionately affected black people, and it is doing just that today. More than 94,000 Californians are currently enslaved in state prisons. 28% of them are black, even though Black people, we make up less than 6% of California’s overall population, and we’re no more likely to commit crimes in any other racial demographic, we’re simply more likely to be policed and imprisoned where we’re forced to work. It’s modern day slavery. The 13th Amendment was supposed to do away with that, but all it did was memorialize a problematic loophole that allows governments to feed the prison industrial complex. And speaking of that complex, well, many private companies and even government agencies profit from this cheap prison labor, which incentivizes higher incarceration rates and longer sentences for economic gain. This not only further perpetuates systemic inequalities, it advances racial inequities, and it compounds them with what over policing of black and brown bodies. That’s just another reason to end forced prison labor. The incarcerated should serve their time, but while they’re serving, prisons should be positioning these individuals to be contributing members of society by offering them fair, voluntary work opportunities. Prisoners could gain valuable skills, build confidence and make better use of their time, which may help reduce recidivism. Again, it’s been nearly 160 years since the 13th was passed. It’s time that we do what’s morally right. The 22 million Californians registered to vote this November, they need to vote yes on prop sis, prop six.