Prison reform advocates pursue changes to the way prison labor is handled, targeting a provision of the state constitution called the “slavery exception” that relates to the nearly unpaid forced labor of Louisiana inmates. Executive Director of Decarcerate Louisiana Curtis Davis, who spent 25 years at Angola, is working to change that. He said prisoners are paid pennies for their work.
“A field worker makes four cents an hour, and two of those pennies are kept by the state which is roughly like eighty cents at the end of the week. Not enough to buy a bar of soup,” said Davis.
Jenkins received a total of $12,000 from prison labor during his sentence.
Legislation has been filed to remove the slavery exception for prisoners in Louisiana.
Davis said the 13th Amendment did not end slavery it codified it with a loophole allowing prison slave labor. He said if you refuse to work guards can use force against you.
“And that would have been a violation of institutional security. That’s what the guns are for and those aren’t rubber bullets in those guns,” said Davis.
In addition to being treated like slaves while incarcerated Davis said as a society, we also do not understand the mental trauma that forced servitude has on prisoners.
“We suffer from some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. I think that we should treat crime as a social disease and figure out solutions instead of just punishment,” said Davis.
If passed a constitutional amendment could be added to the fall 2022 ballot.
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