MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Current and former inmates announced a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Alabama's prison labor program as a form of “modern slavery,” saying inmates are forced to work for little pay — and sometimes no pay at all — in jobs that benefit to government agencies or private companies.
The class action lawsuit also accuses the state of maintaining a discriminatory parole system with a low release rate that provides a supply of workers while generating money for the state.
“The forced labor system that currently exists in Alabama's prison system is the modern reincarnation of the infamous convict leasing system that replaced slavery after the Civil War,” Janet Herold, legal director of Justice Catalyst Law, said Tuesday.
The Alabama Department of Corrections and the Alabama Attorney General's office declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses the state of violating the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, anti-trafficking laws and the Alabama Constitution.
The lawsuit alleges that the state operates a “forced labor program” that forces prisoners into work. According to the lawsuit, these jobs also include unpaid jobs at the prison, where inmates perform tasks that help keep the facilities running. Inmates who are free can work in jobs where the business community pays minimally. wages or more, but the prison system withholds 40% of an inmate's gross wages to cover the costs of their incarceration and also deducts costs for transportation and laundry services. The lawsuit referred to the state's 40% cut as a “labor trafficking compensation.” ”
LaKiera Walker, who was previously incarcerated for 15 years, said she worked unpaid jobs at the prison, including housekeeping and unloading trucks. She said she later worked for an inmate for $2 a day and then worked 12-hour shifts in a frozen food warehouse for a food company. She said she and other inmates felt pressured to work even when they were sick.
“If you didn't work, you were at risk of going back to jail or receiving a disciplinary (infraction),” Walker said.
Almireo English, a state prisoner, said reliable inmates perform unpaid tasks that keep prisons running so prison administrators can devote their limited staff to other functions.
“Why would the slave master of his own free will release men to help and assist them in making their gainful employment easier and more worry-free,” English said.
Although the state did not comment Tuesday, the state has maintained prison and work-release jobs to prepare inmates for life after incarceration.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ended slavery but still allows forced labor “as a punishment for crime.” States set different wages for incarcerated workers, but most are low. A report from the American Civil Liberties Union survey found that the average hourly wage for prison jobs is about 52 cents.
The plaintiffs included two unions. The lawsuit alleges that the inmate labor supply puts downward pressure on wages for all employees and hinders unions' ability to organize workers.
Lawsuits and initiatives in other states have also questioned or targeted the use of prison labor. Men incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in September have filed a lawsuit claiming they are forced to work in the prison's fields for little or no pay even when temperatures rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.