Incarcerated people in Alabama filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court Tuesday, challenging what they call “a modern-day form of slavery.” The plaintiffs’ core argument, outlined in a 126-page complaint, is that Alabama is engaging in racially discriminatory punishment for profit by exploiting incarcerated workers. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall are named as defendants. So are fast-food companies and a beer distributor that the plaintiffs say are profiting from the exploitation of incarcerated people. Those incarcerated plaintiffs are joined by two unions for service employees.
Gov. Ivey’s office did not respond to an email message seeking a comment about the class-action lawsuit.
Being incarcerated and forced to work in sometimes dangerous conditions for pennies, or for no pay at all, is not unique to Alabama.
There may be some people who hear of the Alabama lawsuit and believe that the conditions described apply only to that state. However, being incarcerated and forced to work in sometimes dangerous conditions for pennies, or for no pay at all, is not unique to Alabama. Campaigns across the nation, including in Louisiana, California and Arizona, highlight how punishment, profit and race shape American-style incarceration.
Every day, across the United States, people behind bars are forced to work. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a criminal conviction. Many state constitutions do the same. But as I’ve argued elsewhere, the labor exploitation in American prisons goes far beyond even what the Constitution allows.
Incarcerated people are forced to work in dangerous and life-threatening conditions, risking injury or death. Again, that’s not just in Alabama, but across the United States. Incarcerated people working a prison job have drowned in the Mississippi River and died from blunt force trauma after falling off the backs…
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