American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States”.

End of slavery exception in state constitutions could reform prison labor
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End of slavery exception in state constitutions could reform prison labor

ByEyes on Trafficking News

In the days when the COVID-19 virus was new, less understood and more deadly, officials in Louisiana turned to state prison inmates to produce essential but scarce products to slow the rapid spread of the virus. There were occupational hazards and health concerns for the imprisoned people mixing chemicals to create hard-to-find hand sanitizer. For…

Forced Prison Labor Was Also on the Ballot
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Forced Prison Labor Was Also on the Ballot

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Terrancé Akins worked the entire seven years that he was incarcerated in the Hardeman Correctional Facility, a private prison contracted to imprison people in Tennessee. “You couldn’t not have a job,” he told The Nation. “We cooked. We cleaned. We washed the clothes. We taught the classes. The whole operation of the facility was dependent…

Prison-Labor Bans Are About Unions More Than ‘Slavery’
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Prison-Labor Bans Are About Unions More Than ‘Slavery’

ByEyes on Trafficking News

What I learned working in the correctional kitchen for 75 cents a day. I worked in York Correctional Institution’s kitchen for five years. I earned 75 cents a day for the first year, then got a raise to $1.75 a day. That job is the reason I’m alive. The work was menial, but it provided…

Unpaid California County Jail Work Set for Ninth Circuit Debate
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Unpaid California County Jail Work Set for Ninth Circuit Debate

ByEyes on Trafficking News

An Aramark Corp. subsidiary will urge a federal appeals court in San Francisco to toss a lawsuit from non-convicted inmates at a California county jail who worked for the company without being paid. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral argument Monday on whether California’s minimum wage and overtime protections…

The bid to close the U.S. ‘slavery loophole’
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The bid to close the U.S. ‘slavery loophole’

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Johnny Perez was made to work under threat of punishment, sewing underwear, pillowcases and sheets. He earned between $0.17 and $0.36 per hour for his labor.   Johnny was one of the hundreds of thousands of incarcerated people who are forced to work in the U.S. as a result of a so-called “slavery loophole” created…

Nationwide Movement to End Unpaid Prison Labor Tackles the ‘Slavery Loophole’
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Nationwide Movement to End Unpaid Prison Labor Tackles the ‘Slavery Loophole’

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Photo by mksfly via Flickr Incarcerated individuals across the country are forced to work for cents on the dollar, with five states, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, offering no wages, reports the Guardian.  The 13th amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude but contained an exception for “a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have…

California Is Dependent on Prison Labor for Fighting Fires. This Must End.
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California Is Dependent on Prison Labor for Fighting Fires. This Must End.

ByEyes on Trafficking News

On September 7, 2022, after many attempted delays from the City of Susanville, California, a Lassen County judge ruled in favor of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to close one of Susanville’s two prisons. The court case and public debate over the prison closure has been almost entirely based on the anticipated loss of 1,000 jobs…

‘A vestige of slavery’: Why advocates are fighting to make prison labor voluntary
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‘A vestige of slavery’: Why advocates are fighting to make prison labor voluntary

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Prisoners making license plates is a popular stereotype, but most of the nation’s 800,000 incarcerated workers hold jobs more similar to those on the outside: They cook and serve food, mop floors, mow lawns, and cut hair. Unlike other workers, though, the incarcerated have little say, if any, in what jobs they do. They face…

For decades, Mass. attorneys general have tried to expand the state’s wiretap law.
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For decades, Mass. attorneys general have tried to expand the state’s wiretap law.

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Massachusetts attorneys general have for decades pushed the state to modernize its 1968 wiretap law, which limits electronic surveillance to cases tied to organized crime. Attorney General Maura Healey and several of her recent predecessors have unsuccessfully called on the Legislature to broaden the law’s reach beyond suspected organized crime figures, to make it easier…

‘Modern day slavery’: Lawmakers, advocates seek change after Republic prison labor investigation
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‘Modern day slavery’: Lawmakers, advocates seek change after Republic prison labor investigation

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Reacting to an investigation by The Arizona Republic and KJZZ, lawmakers and advocates are calling for a review of the state’s use of prison labor. “Forced prison labor is nothing more than modern day slavery, and our state’s growing reliance on this workforce is irresponsible, immoral and inexcusable,” said state Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Glendale. “Any public…