We Can’t Be Free Until We Fully Abolish Slavery Through a loophole in the 13th Amendment, governments and corporations profit from cheap, incarcerated labor. Michele Bratcher Goodwin
Prison Labor Is on the Frontlines of the COVID-19 Pandemic States like California, New York, and Arizona have relied on prisoners to continue working, with little pay and in precarious conditions, during the coronavirus pandemic. Eliyahu Kamisher
Video Captures Poor Conditions At Louisiana Poultry Plant Where Prisoners Are Sent To Work Despite COVID-19 concerns, the state’s prisoners are still doing dangerous menial jobs in work-release programs. Jerry Iannelli
Some Of The Hardest-Working Frontline Employees In New Orleans Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck Garbage collectors in the city are striking for $15 an hour, hazard pay, and PPE. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
As COVID-19 Ravages Florida, Incarcerated People Are Still Doing The State’s Hard Outdoor Labor Despite risks to incarcerated people and the public, Florida is sending prisoners to perform hard labor. Jerry Iannelli
Arizona’s Incarcerated Firefighters Push for Legislation That Recognizes Their Labor By Reducing Their Sentences Unlike other states, Arizona offers minimal early release credits for the prisoners it sends to fight its wildfires. Hannah Critchfield
Alameda County Sheriff, Aramark Are Forcing Prisoners Into ‘Involuntary Servitude,’ New Lawsuit Says Some pretrial prisoners and immigration detainees are forced to work without pay in violation of the 13th Amendment, according to attorneys. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Appeal Podcast: A Lack of Basic Rights for Incarcerated Workers With journalist Sessi Kuwabara Blanchard Adam H. Johnson
Federal Prisons Official Used Prison Labor For Work On His Church The Bureau of Prisons’ South Central regional director utilized incarcerated people from a Texas prison to work on a landscaping project at his church. Lauren Gill
Florida Locales Vote to Stop Using Prison Labor—and Others May Follow One commissioner wants the state Department of Corrections to show proof that his county isn’t just using prisoners as ‘slaves.’ Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Activists Brace For Further Retaliation In The Wake Of The National Prison Strike As media attention wanes, “this is the most dangerous period with any prisoner action,” one organizer said. Bryce Covert
‘Safer to Leave Them There’ How the politics of storm preparation reveal whose lives matter, and who gets left behind. Kate Aronoff
Why Prisoners are Striking Today Prisoners are striking to end death by incarceration, prison slavery and poor living conditions. Raven Rakia
Angola Prisoner Says He Was Punished For Organizing Against ‘Slavery’ Ronald Brooks was helping plan a prison strike when he was abruptly transferred to a new prison hours away. Bryce Covert
