Voters in Louisiana Rejected an Amendment to End Slavery Exceptions—Conditions Chronicled in GHRC Report
Four states voted to end slavery as a form of criminal punishment. Here’s why Louisiana voters didn’t
The 13th Amendment of the US Constitution formally abolished slavery, but since it was enacted in the aftermath of the US Civil War in 1865, a notable exception has remained: Slavery is still allowed “as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
Many state constitutions include similar language, meaning a devastating “loophole” has effectively kept slavery alive with forced labour in prisons across the US.
That exception remains in 20 states, allowing incarcerated workers “to be exploited, underpaid, and excluded from workplace safety protection laws,” according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union and the University of Chicago Law School Global Human Rights Clinic.
Read more at Independent