Amid blistering summer temperatures, a federal judge ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation, saying they face “substantial risk of injury or death.” The state immediately appealed the decision.
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Last year, several men incarcerated at Angola along with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) filed a class-action lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor in the fields of the maximum security prison, once a former slave plantation that spans some 18,000 acres. The men, most of whom are Black, said they use hoes and shovels or stoop to pick crops by hand in dangerously hot temperatures as armed guards look on. If they refuse to work or fail to meet quotas, they can be sent to solitary confinement or face other punishment, according to disciplinary guidelines. [Emphasis mine]
Fortunately for the state, the 13th Amendment allows for slavery as “a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” You may be sure that this will increase by many orders of magnitude if Trump and Johnson get their way.
The increase in slave labor via prisoners will “help” as well.
Already in progress.
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Fortunately for the state, the 13th Amendment allows for slavery as “a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” You may be sure that this will increase by many orders of magnitude if Trump and Johnson get their way.