The last form of legal slavery may soon be banned in California as voters will decide in November whether to end the practice of involuntary servitude, even as punishment for a crime.
Audy McAfee reports:
“If you gon have a person, improsion em, then treat em humanly, that’s all everybody wanted to be treated, humanely.”
Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa spent 34 years of a 43-year prison sentence in solitary confinement. He was committed for a murder that someone else later confessed to, and granted a compassionate release earlier this year. While incarcerated, he says he was forced to work. But when he and others refused to, they were either thrown into solitary confinement or had their privileges revoked until they went back to work. He says the issue with prison labor is not that people don’t want to work, it’s that they have no choice.
“When you have policies and procedures to enslave you by proxy then it really it’s cruelty to the individual.”
He’s among the formerly incarcerated people and advocates calling for an end to prison slavery, or “involuntary servitude.”
California is one of 16 states that allow involuntary servitude in prisons. But that could soon change. A bill on the November ballot, Proposition 6, the End Slavery in California Act, would amend the state constitution that allows the use of forced labor for punishment of a crime.
“As of to date we have removed it from Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Alabama, Tennessee, Vermont.”
That’s Jamila Land, she is the co-founder of the Abolish Slavery National Network or ASSN. It’s a coalition making a national push to remove involuntary servitude from state constitutions.
“At any given moment if you are accused of a crime not just in this state but in this country that you too can become a legalized slave because of involuntary servitude.”
Prop 6 was originally introduced as ACA three in 2020, but two years later it died in the Senate after the discussion shifted from ending involuntary servitude to the bill’s potential impacts like increasing the wages for incarcerated people. But the Abolish Slavery National Network didn’t give up, and in 2023 Assembly member Lori Wilson, a Democrat from Fairfield, picked up the bill. She spoke on the Assembly floor in June, just before lawmakers agreed to put it before voters on the November ballot.
“Slavery is wrong in all forms and California should be clear in denouncing that in its constitution. “
Prop 6 is backed by more than 30 organizations including the ACLU of California, the California Teachers Association, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, and the California Democratic Party. The only group opposed is the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or CDCR. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, CDCR spokesperson Vicky Waters, said working is a legal requirement that makes sure incarcerated people participate in something meaningful.
But prison reform advocates disagree. Alissa Moore is the NorCal reentry coordinator for All of Us or None, a member-led group fighting against discrimination of former and current incarcerated people.
“So after you know 10, 15 tears, they’ve never had a right to choose anything, make any choices. How do we parole them at the end of this time and say, oh, now they are rehabilitated and they’re just instantly gonna start practicing agency and know how to make good choices?”
Moore experienced involuntary servitude when she was sentenced to prison for 25 years for murder, when she was 17 years old. She says incarcerated people need time to process the issues they are going through, and they should be allowed to do that through their own agency.
She says many incarcerated people miss out on rehabilitative programs and education due to their extensive work schedules.
Sitawa Nanatumbu Jamma says banning forced labor as punishment for a crime would allow incarcerated people to focus on education and rehabilitative programming.
“Q: If you didn’t have to do involuntary work, what would you want to be doing instead?
A: The thing is we would like to be getting more education. You know? More things to keep us healthy like athletic things for everybody to do cuz health is important to your life so we’d like to do more of that.”
The CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) says incarcerated people working is a way for them to pay dues to their victims. Incarcerated workers make very little money, but they produce some of the most common American goods from license plates to the very chairs and tables that are in most classrooms across the country. And, they make products found in most kitchens like Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour, and Coca-Cola.
According to Tufts University, some 4,1000 companies rely on prison labor in the U.S. incarcerated people also work as firefighters–it’s one of the highest paid jobs in prison.
Incarcerated fire crew members earn between one to two dollars per day in California. Half of those wages go to administration, and another five percent is taken for victim’s restitution, leaving most incarcerated firefighters with barely half a dollar a day, according to a report by Vox.
According to the CDCR, incarcerated firefighters save California approximately 100 million dollars annually, mostly from the negligible wages paid to them.
Amika Mota, was a firefighter for 2 years while she was incarcerated for 7 years for vehicular manslaughter. She’s now the executive director of Sister Warriors. It’s a member-led organization that supports incarcerated women and trans people. She supports Prop 6 and ending forced prison labor.
“People’s drive to work and excel and heal and rehabilitate that’s not gonna change that’s something that just exists in individuals that are figuring out their own path of rehabilitation but what will change is this system that is propping up slavery.”
Removing forced labor as punishment for a crime in California, could also allow incarcerated people to advocate for better working conditions and wages. Moore, with All of US or None says many incarcerated people are scared to advocate because they could get hit with violations.
“They can take our phone calls, they can take our right to exercise to program on the yard, they can take our canteen from us, they can take our visits from us, they can take our family visit from us.”
Even worse they can be denied parole. The CDCR says if a person is denied parole it can be between 3 to 15 years until their next hearing. Jamlia Land with the Abolish Slavery National network is disappointed proposition 6 took this long to make it to the ballot:
“Are we still having an economic conversation about the value of human beings in a system in which they are being exploited and forced to work? Under no circumstance in 2024 whether its California Nevada or any other state should legalize constitutional slavery still be on the books.”
Should proposition 6 pass, involuntary servitude in U.S. prisons would still be legal, under the 13th amendment in the constitution. And while federal law supersedes state law, David Sklansky, a professor at Stanford Law School says it won’t conflict if voters end prison slavery at the state level.
“Cause the 13th amendment does not affirmatively require that people who are being punished for a crime be forced to work.”
He says that means the CDCR could not invoke the 13th amendment if an incarcerated person refuses work if Prop 6 passes. If passed, Proposition 6 will go into effect January first of 2025. Voters will decide at the ballot box November 5th. For KPFA, I’m Audy McAfee.