Voters in Vermont, Tennessee, Oregon and Alabama amended their state constitutions to abolish slavery and indentured servitude this week \u2014 but a similar initiative failed in Louisiana, garnering embarrassing headlines for a former slave state that remains infamous for modern mass incarceration and forced prison labor.<\/p>\n
Louisiana voters rejected an amendment to the state constitution aimed at outlawing slavery and involuntary servitude on Tuesday, underscoring the challenges faced by a growing movement to abolish slave wages and coerced labor inside prisons nationwide. Activists campaigning to end prison slavery say the vote was mired in confusion and misinformation after Rep. Edmond Jordan, a Black Democrat and sponsor of the amendment in the state legislature, advised voters to reject<\/a> its compromise language and send it back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n However, Amendment 7\u2019s passage would have been at least a symbolic victory for formerly and currently incarcerated<\/a> organizers in a state known for the Louisiana State Penitentiary, home to the notorious Angola prison farm located<\/a> on a former antebellum plantation. Activists cite Angola as a well-known example of \u201cmodern-day slavery,\u201d<\/a> although coerced and extremely low-paid prison labor is pervasive far beyond rural Louisiana.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew the amendment didn\u2019t go far enough, but we need to start somewhere,\u201d said Morgan Shannon, director of partnerships at the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, in an interview. The social justice group is one of several that campaigned in support of the amendment.<\/p>\n Louisiana\u2019s failed Amendment 7 was far from perfect. It would have abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, but with an exception for lawfully administered criminal punishment. The criminal code in Louisiana allows for a convicted person to be sentenced to prison and hard labor, making Amendment 7 no different than the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which outlaws slavery \u201cexcept as a punishment for crime,\u201d according to Norris Henderson, founder of Voice of the Experienced<\/a>,<\/span> a New Orleans organization of formerly incarcerated activists.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was clear that it was really just semantics, to be honest; it didn\u2019t really change anything \u2026 [forced labor] is still \u2018cool\u2019 under the guise of a lawfully convicted crime,\u201d Henderson told Truthout <\/em>in an interview.<\/p>\n For decades, journalists have documented the testimonies of Black prisoners<\/a> at the Angola prison farm who say they are forced to pick cotton and other crops under the hot sun and watchful eyes of wardens. Curtis Davis, a lead organizer with Decarcerate Louisiana\u2019s effort to pass Amendment 7, was released from Angola in 2016 and vowed to fight back after being punished for refusing to work in miserable conditions. <\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018I know my rights, I\u2019m not a slave,\u2019\u201d Davis recently told<\/a> The Appeal<\/em>. \u201cAnd they say, \u2018But yes, you are.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The national End the Exception<\/a> campaign, along with activists and incarcerated people across the country, is pushing states remove exceptions for slavery and involuntary servitude modeled off the 13th Amendment from their constitutions. In Louisiana, this exception was exploited to essentially re-enslave Black people, and especially Black men, through criminalization and convict-leasing schemes<\/a> after the Civil War. At Angola<\/a> and other prisons, advocates say slavery \u201cnever ended\u201d thanks to greed and the exception in the 13th Amendment.<\/a><\/p>\n Prison labor remains controversial far beyond Louisiana, with large variations from state to state in working conditions and pay, if prisoners are paid for their labor at all. Prisoners often want to work, especially outside, and wardens use labor as a reward for good behavior. However, some prisoners will earn a dollar or less<\/a> for an hour of work, and advocates say labor conditions in prisons are inherently coercive. So far, eight states have abolished slavery through their constitutions, according<\/a> to organizers.<\/p>\n In Alabama, where labor and hunger strikes organized within prisons<\/a> regularly make national headlines<\/a>, voters approved an overhaul<\/a> of the state constitution on Tuesday that removed century-old language allowing involuntary servitude for the punishment of a crime. Vermont approved a ballot amendment banning slavery without exception. In Tennessee, the ballot amendment<\/a> approved this week bans slavery with a narrower carve-out for prisoners who hold jobs while incarcerated. In Oregon, involuntary servitude is no longer a legal criminal punishment, but a judge can still order \u201ceducation, counseling, treatment, community service, or other alternatives to incarceration.\u201d<\/p>\n