Sentencing Project

Success of ‘Slavery on the Ballot’ Vote Could Help Incarcerated Pregnant People
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Success of ‘Slavery on the Ballot’ Vote Could Help Incarcerated Pregnant People

This story was originally published by The 19th. During the midterm elections, five states — Alabama, Oregon, Vermont, Louisiana, and Tennessee — put to vote initiatives purported to prohibit the use of slavery and indentured servitude as a punishment for crime, an antiquated allowance given by the 13th Amendment 157 years ago this month that…

Success of ‘slavery on the ballot’ measures could help incarcerated pregnant people of color
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Success of ‘slavery on the ballot’ measures could help incarcerated pregnant people of color

Originally published by The 19th During the midterm elections, five states — Alabama, Oregon, Vermont, Louisiana, and Tennessee — put to vote initiatives purported to prohibit the use of slavery and indentured servitude as a punishment for crime, an antiquated allowance given by the 13th Amendment 157 years ago this month that prisons across the country still…

Your child’s glasses may have been made with forced prison labor
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Your child’s glasses may have been made with forced prison labor

When Sovannarie was 3 months old, her parents noticed something unusual about their daughter: white opacities in both pupils. Without cataract surgery — and soon — doctors predicted irreversible vision loss. Even if that procedure went perfectly, Sovannarie would need glasses to rehabilitate her eyes and prevent blindness. A decade and many operations later, Sovannarie…

How a Jim Crow-era strategy blocked 4.6 million people from voting in 2022
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How a Jim Crow-era strategy blocked 4.6 million people from voting in 2022

Reading Time: 8 minutes A type of law first created after the end of slavery to prohibit Black men from voting prevented more than 4.6 million Americans from participating in the 2022 midterm elections. Forty-eight states strip voting rights from people convicted of felonies, no small decision in the country with the highest incarceration rate…

In Dialogue with Malawi, Experts of the Committee against Torture Commend Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking, Ask about Access to Lawyers and the Definition of Torture
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In Dialogue with Malawi, Experts of the Committee against Torture Commend Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking, Ask about Access to Lawyers and the Definition of Torture

The Committee against Torture today concluded its consideration of the initial report of Malawi, with Committee Experts commending efforts to combat human trafficking, and raising questions about access to lawyers and the definition of torture. Anna Racu, Committee Vice Chairperson and Co-Rapporteur for Malawi, said that it was positive that Malawi had adopted the Trafficking…

‘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

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…