Prisoners sue Alabama state government for 'modern-day slavery' | Rattling the Bars

A group of current and former prisoners have sued the state of Alabama with the support of two unions who have signed on as co-plaintiffs, the Union of Southern Service Workers, and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The lawsuit claims that Alabama's system of prison labor amounts to a "modern-day form of slavery" that generates massive profits for private businesses and revenues for the state by forcing incarcerated people to work for little or no pay. Jacob Morrison and Adam Keller join Rattling the Bars to discuss the lawsuit and the importance of the fight for prisoners' rights to the overall labor movement.
Jacob Morrison is a member of the American Federation of Government Employees, and the president of the North Alabama Labor Council. Adam Keller is a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Local 900. Together, they host The Valley Labor Report, Alabama’s only union radio talk show.
Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
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[@gregorycannon8859]

Slavery never ended. It just evolved.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@tyfromuzi5871]

@@jaysonoweh2227 thanks Jason, the only word you know is not helpful here sadly

[@robertcarpenter7486]

This is not slavery.

[@pausereflect5911]

It's true and getting WORSE. The point is people associate it with black people and therefore become "unaware" of many types that exist today!

[@quonston]

I live in Alabama, and I am just starting to understand the depth of this appalling situation. Thank you for educating us!

[@stanleykubrick8786]

As non-Americans, many of us would love to see America's politicians spend some time in the prison program (as inmates). After coming out they could then speak intelligently about Making America Great Eventually - MAGE.

[@th4759]

@@stanleykubrick8786 How about not going to prison? 🤔

[@MeMe-bg8ci]

You need to amend the constitution for this one. Good luck with that.

[@BrianJacobsen-lc3fe]

Privatized Corporate prisons that make states sign contracts for 95 percent beds being full or state pays fine to Corporate. Doesn't make a Fair and Impartial court. Having to fill quotas.

[@bitkrusher5948]

They tried to fill one of those beds with me in Az...had a good tan and dreads back then .....I often look back at those years and the way people treated me and I know now that it whas......like what it is to be black in America....We need to change shit !

[@noelsteele]

My friend is in prison and every single time he tries to call me, we get hung up before we can even talk. It's been like that for months now. Mobile, Alabama.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@tyfromuzi5871]

Wow, sorry to hear, that is such a scaring and harmful industry. I hope for your friends fine to be short and that we find better ways to rehabilitate and enable the successful living of our neighbors and community soon. Incarceration to scar instead of rehabilitate and furthermore more endenturing to be even greedier has to change, this is so far from the past. It's time for us to make answers that are healthy and smart for everyone

[@ianjco60]

This makes sense, if government agency and private companies can receive near zero labour cost then this will not only be a retrograde step, but also undermine any leverage workers might have locally.

[@vieiradosreismariadelurdes9105]

Slavery never Ended 😮😮😢😢

[@lisasmith6243]

No they just disguised it and then basically made laws so that they can in prison us and put us back to that same system that they supposedly abolish. It’s just the American way.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@Kashi86]

​@@jaysonoweh2227Why is he a bot??!! It never ended.. 13th Amendment

[@lalsphere]

I am so happy to see these issues addressed. Thank you for this excellent work.

[@newtagwhodis4535]

Awesome coverage! Thank you for your journalism based in integrity. Powerful and empowering conversation. It gives me lots of hope. Thank you all who put this together. 🤙🏼

[@alvinwilson2079]

My Son is Mountain City Tennessee and they have put padlocks on each inmates cell which is a fire hazard

[@jaysonoweh2227]

It's not

[@tyfromuzi5871]

:o I had court while California was burning. Little watching the fire come down the mountain at the courthouse and the judge would not evac the prison. The town did not burn in the end but everything around it. The only person Jason knows how to expand vocab with 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@amypowell6495]

How will you get around the 13th amendment which allows slavery for persons convicted of crimes? We must amend the constitution or I'm afraid this lawsuit will be fruitless.

[@gemgal711]

Several good points in the lawsuit. I hope this lawsuit changes the system for the better.

[@Crazy_Terryy]

AND NOW YOU KNOW WHY WE ARE LIVING IN AN ABSOLUTE POLICE STATE

[@louisesumrell6331]

Once I had worked in the laundry for long enough, I was paid the princely sum of 17c per hour 🙃. This was in NC.

[@tyfromuzi5871]

Thank you for sharing. My sister maybe 15 or 20 years ago was $0.25 in South Dakota yeah.

[@Twindragon-tu1wd]

It's like 150 yrs of " progress" never really happened down south. It's time.❤

[@tyfromuzi5871]

Ain't just the south /:

[@studentaccount4354]

Mass incarceration is a major problem.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@michaelandrews4783]

A Prision sentance should not be a Slavery Sentance, it is NOT the responsibility of those forcefully incarcerated by the state to fund their own imprisionment.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@The_Mighty_Red]

a lot of people end up in prison because they can't work because of mental health issues. So those people are then forced to work or abused further since we as a society can't come up with a better solution. we are the most incarcerated people in the world.

[@eltorocal]

Here it is, folks... Our Government pissin' down our backs and tellin' us "It's just raining". $3.8B a year for the past 30 years, and an attempted recent "donation" of $14.2B. No wonder Israelis worldwide receive FREE Universal Healthcare and FREE College Tuition. It took 40 Years for the USA to sign on to the 1948 UN Genocide Convention... and it was the atrocities committed by the U.S. on the N. American Tribal Nations which fronted the delay. Ironically, in 1987, it was a Congressman from Delaware who finally signed on for the U.S... none other than "acting" President Joseph Robinette Biden. "I mean, there might be a public outcry for awhile... but then, you know what happens? People forget. They don't remember, they don't care. They just don't care. It's just gonna' be another everyday, common tragedy." "Yeah, it's -- it's not common." "Don't do somethin' you're gonna' regret for the rest of your life... You're gonna' regret..." "I ain't got nothin' but regret, Bill..." "You have a family... Children. Don't make it more of a tragedy..." - Bill Hale and Ernest Burkhart talking in jail... Killers of the Flower Moon If you tell a Lie often enough, and loud enough... it becomes Israel.

[@iwannabapenguin]

@@eltorocal in what context do you mean by Israelis receive free healthcare and education?... and whether you applaud Biden or not?... can't work out if it's sarcasm or not.

[@eltorocal]

@@iwannabapenguin What are you, eleven? GOOGLE is there if you can't remember how elementary, Jr. high and high school taught you how to do Your Own F**king Research! No sarcasm... and EVERYTHING I wrote is FACT.

[@KeturahTori]

Many of these prisoners are working jobs they won't be able to get once they're out too. This is insane. GREAT reporting BTW ; thank you for covering a topic many ignore.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@tyfromuzi5871]

That is a really nice point to add also thank you~

[@Archangelsword]

Faith based and Private Prisons make billions off of convicts especially non violent ones...

[@tyfromuzi5871]

Amen

[@eltorocal]

I wonder how many Unmarked Graves are behind this prison... like their neighbors in Mississippi...?

[@chicagoliightsx]

👀 Exactly 💔

[@jaysonoweh2227]

Bots

[@tyfromuzi5871]

Yea

[@unfriendlyatheist616]

Hear Hear Thank you sir. ✊

[@leew159]

I understand prisoners are on another level of slavery ,BUT, we are all slaves. Government steals large chunks of our time/labor/ life wvwry week, month and year for life. You must pay property rent taxes since they own the land. You must get permission from them to do virtually anything- driving, starting a business, fishing, hunting etc

[@NoOneIsComingToShaveYou]

¿what doesn't go to Alabama comes to Louisiana?

[@leew159]

Literally what you describe is is on the outside as well, and it's amazing you don't realize it

[@PHARA0H]

It's in the Constitution... Don't do the crime if you don't want to do slave labor.

[@tyfromuzi5871]

Incentive to incarcerate causes innocent life's to be damaged.

[@gemgal711]

Be interesting to see how they get around the 13th amendment

[@msbluesman]

You should mention Global tel making contacts with prisons to share profits from stealing money from prisoners and their families for prison phone calls they stole $10,000 for me one year for one call a week long distance from George County correctional facility. The trapped prisoners are forced to pay these fees in order to communicate with family and attorneys.

[@NickleJ]

This has been going on in Louisiana for as long as I can remember

[@priestesstapes]

Thank y'all for this.

[@SchizoAction]

They should get paid at least the minimum wage. In the cases where another citizen was victimized by the crime they committed, the pay should go directly to an account to help their victims recover. In cases of victimless crimes, the prisoner should be allowed to keep it.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@tyfromuzi5871]

My sister and her friends got $0.25 an hour. It's that or stay in your cell where guards sometimes are caught for all the raping prisoners they do. Course this was maybe 20 years ago SD

[@7owlfthr]

Southern Poverty Law Center involved?

[@mikemcgee3636]

Hell ya they need to sue and send a message to the rest of prisons across the United States.

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@tyfromuzi5871]

Let's all sign, action!

[@bitkrusher5948]

Is that weed son?now you work for me ! For free!

[@jaysonoweh2227]

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[@johnwesterlund]

Doesn't the 13th allow this?

[@chasgarza3960]

Wait a minute. I think that prisoners should put in work when they go to prison. They think they are going to just sit around do nothing and be bored. While tax payers pay for everything. This is the best way to keep them outta prison. They can either work and get paid when they are out or get paid nothing behind bars and pay for their own way. We are all doing slave work for the 1%. It's just the way it is. Everybody needs to pay their own way. They can't act right when they are free. They gonna have to work to pay for their room and board, shower, food and electricity. Stay out of prison and this won't be your life. They are lucky they have money left over for commissary. Everybody works in regular jails too. I had to do work project and had to pay them to go do slave work $500 for 60 days. In the hot summer. Manuel Garden tools doing landscaping, cleaning truckers poop bags up off the road, weeding rain gutters. In 100 + degree weather.

[@gordoncarscadden6252]

Not only are they exploiting the prisoners, but they are undercutting the wages of non prison labor, keeping everyone's wages low.

[@deborahlee63]

According to the constitution, slavery is legal if you're convicted of committing a crime.

[@thedon1004]

Doesn't that say everything about the states? 😢

[@therealrobertbirchall]

How many prisoners in Alabama are coerced into donating blood?

[@a1g0rhythm]

Are these slaves counted as 3/5 of a person per the constitution?

[@BearDemocracy]

Good luck with that. The Constitution allows it.

[@durroefowler-jn7vh]

Where is the federal government this ben happing for decades

[@SellamAbraham]

lol read the 13th Amendment again. Slavery is lawful as punishment for crime. You'll have to amend the Constitution if you want to make any change here.

[@jeffreygoss8109]

Pay them minimum wage, then charge them for rent and food

[@thedon1004]

Asinine.

[@asielmundo]

Which crimes were commited by the prisioners in that jaill on Alabama?

[@durroefowler-jn7vh]

This show should be shown to every minority in Alabama to show the consequences if you break the law and don't let them exploit you

[@deedeedixon712]

By minority do you mean Black people? We are not a minority That's everyone else.

[@alvinwilson2079]

What about the families of the incarcerated incarcerated individuals! If there gonna work them like dogs then the money they make should go on there phone accounts and there commissary so Not to Break the bank of the families they are killing us with the prices they charge us for a clear TV a clear remote which is separately charged

[@jaysonoweh2227]

You're 12. Criminals don't deserve hand outs

[@deedeedixon712]

Disgusting and extremely Disturbing..... Stop It 😩🤑😠

[@ralphmilano1703]

they make you work for bullshit driving offence also i had to pay a heavy fine, and also work at the local goodwill for free which is not a store about goodwill!

[@NoOneIsComingToShaveYou]

🚫Anheuser-Busch

[@vajona2495]

Imagine simply not breaking the law

[@politicallyinnocent]

Next stop, killers will sue victims and their living relatives for reparations. We've lost our way. God bless you all!

[@th4759]

Prison is for criminals. Fight against wrongful prosecution. If you’re in prison for crimes committed, I, as a tax payer, support criminals conducting services for communities with little to no pay. That’s punishment. If you want to work and earn money, get a job and don’t commit crimes. If you are unemployed and commit crimes, your punishment includes labor with little to no pay. What’s the issue here? Slavery was forced labor upon no crime. Prison is forced labor bc of crime. Slavery and criminals in prison are 2 completely different scenarios. Please done confuse the 2.

[@PedroAlvarez-rn2bq]

After Richard Nixon all administration are Responsible+ title 18 section 1983+1985 conspiracy of Right+ Jeff section legacy

[@stonehalo1632]

Massa got me wrokin Days never finished Someday massa set us free

[@got2kittys]

If you're incarcerated for a crime, you are allowed to be enslaved. It's part of the U.S. Constitution. It's legal.

[@johnalexander4940]

We know the devils 👿 throne has been here on earth. And the sign is seeing these two courageous white men standing up to the powers that be to defend against the injusitices done to their BROTHERS. As Martin said 55 yrs ago that we have a great cloud of witnesses gathered here who know that their destiny is tied to our destiny. The system can only get darker as its days continue til it burns itself out and finally collapses. Stop dreaming that its not coming to your doorstep soon.

[@user-wj2xk5dx1z]

The thing is that went you become a prisoner you have no wright the only thing that you are suppose to do is stay alive have a place to sleep and no homosexuality you are nothing but a number. You have the same wright as the person life you took

[@tyfromuzi5871]

in South Dakota when I was young, my sister and her friends would make $0.25 doing the states emergency hotline, like you got stuck in a snow drift and the states we hear now that engineer more bottom line life necessity costs than income opportunities by a considerable disproportion that families have to take groceries loans and can be arrested for owing a credit card payment, and you could work for nothing for 5 to 15 years to pay off your groceries.... This is slavery coming back today in America :O

[@jaysonoweh2227]

Bot

[@tyfromuzi5871]

@@jaysonoweh2227 you bought something? What'd you buy?

[@davidwestwater2219]

I have no intention of abolishing prisons. So i'm just gonna stop listening here

[@vivalaleta]

Still going on?? Jesus

[@bluzcompany2293]

All Republican states , imagine that...

[@ddo580]

3k views, 337👍,62 comments. $110??? Donate or donut?

[@HH-mb778w]

🍉

[@thalgott3]

I used to listen to these guys, but they lost their damn minds over Donald Trump and the war in the Ukraine.

[@THESocialJusticeWarrior]

They should have to pay for their room and board. If they can't, they should work for it. They should also be re-educated to get a job when they leave. They need a strong job placement program so they don't go back to crime. Those who can't find jobs should be in an internship program to get job experience and pay. Finding housing should be assessed too. Japan has all this down, we should copy them.

[@The_Mighty_Red]

you're so far off the point. slaves also had to "pay for their room and board" your logic is so old and stupid it's not even funny

[@iwannabapenguin]

I agree. If they weren't in prison they would still need to work to pay for a roof over their heads, food, bills etc...

[@iwannabapenguin]

@@The_Mighty_Red So you're basically saying that even law abiding people that have to pay for 'room and board' are also 'slaves'?...

[@michaelandrews4783]

So you would expect people invaded by an army to pay for the costs of the invasion and ammunion used to kill their relatives? Everyone has to pay for ammuntion you know?

[@thedon1004]

In most civilised countries the loss of liberty is the only price you pay for criminality. It is totally wrong to deny liberty and then say the person has to pay for that privilege. Perverse.

[@cheezee8169]

Force labor

[@MELDtoys]

So is anyone considered "punished" who sits behind bars? Asking for Cain, with 😢 Genesis 4:13 “And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.”

[@spin230]

Personally I’d rather be working then sitting around all day.

[@GuitarJimBourke]

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