California voters reject ballot measure banning forced prison labor – JURIST

California announced on Sunday the unofficial result that voters in the state rejected Proposition 6, which would have amended the Constitution of California to ban state prisons from forcing inmates to work. Currently, if prisoners refuse to work, it is legal for prisons to impose disciplinary measures.

The ballot measure was rejected by a margin of 53.8 percent to 46.2 percent during the general election on November 5th. The results of the vote will not be made official until the election results are certified on December 13th.

Supporters of the measure argue that the legality of forced labor is a continuation of the US legacy of slavery. Black people in the US continue to endure significantly higher rates of incarceration than the general population. This means that Black people statistically are more likely to be subjected to forced prison labor than the white population, reflecting an ongoing history of forced Black labor. In addition to reconciling with this history, supporters contend that abolishing involuntary labor would allow prisoners to prioritize rehabilitation, saving the state money in the long term by reducing rates of reoffending.

While there was no funded campaign against the proposition, the ballot measure noted that abolishing involuntary labor in state prisons would cost the state up to “tens of millions of dollars annually.” Forced labor is used in many US prisons to punish convicts and offset the costs of running the prison system.

Involuntary labor is also currently allowed in federal prisons by the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which banned slavery but continued to allow involuntary servitude as a punishment for those “duly convicted” of a crime.

The International Labour Organization Forced Labour Conventions allow forced prison labor that is limited to punishment for criminals convicted in a court of law as long as convicts are not forcefully hired out to private entities.

Several US states have abolished forced prison labor in recent years, including Colorado, Vermont, Nebraska, Utah, Alabama, Oregon and Tennessee.