It has been 157 years since the US Constitution banned chattel slavery – in which one person is the legal property of another – but exemptions have been left for convicted prisoners.
Across America, slavery or involuntary slavery is still legal as a punishment for a crime.
But on November 8, voters in five states — Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont — will decide whether to remove these exemptions from their state formation and ban slavery altogether.
The result could enable prisoners to challenge forced labor. Some 800,000 currently work for pennies, or for nothing. Seven states offer no pay to prison workers for most job assignments.
Proponents of the change say it is an exploitative loophole that must be closed.
But critics argue that the move is unforgivable and could have unintended consequences for the criminal justice system.
'I worked 25 years and came home with $124'
Human rights researchers say the modern system has its roots in centuries of slavery of African-Americans.
In the years after slavery was outlawed, laws were passed specifically aimed at suppressing black communities and forcing them into prisons where they would be required to work.
Now, some imprisoned black Americans are still forced to pick cotton and other crops on the southern plantations where their ancestors were kept in chains.
“There has never been a day in the United States without codified slavery,” says Curtis Ray Davis II, who served more than 25 years in a Louisiana prison for a murder he pardoned in 2019. Didn't before leaving.
Mr. Davis worked a variety of jobs in the infamous Louisiana state penitentiary - Angola's nickname after the country from which many of the region's African slaves were brought.
“I worked for 25 years and came home with $124,” says Mr. Davis, who was never paid more than 20 cents an hour for his work, which he says, “against my will and at gunpoint".
About 75% of prisoners in prison are black, according to the Innocence Project, a group tasked with acquittals of wrongfully convicted inmates.
He argues that Angola is essentially a place where American slavery never ended.
Even though slavery was abolished, it was in fact the ownership of property shifted from slavery and private ownership to literally state-sanctioned slavery,” says Savannah Aldrige from the Ebolish Slavery National Network.
His organization is working to expand the number of states that ban slavery without exemptions and has tried to persuade lawmakers in Washington to pass laws similar to those amending the U.S. Constitution.
Colorado, Nebraska and Utah have passed measures banning all forms of slavery since 2018. Ms Aldridge noted that the movement has attracted bipartisan support - the only way it could pass in Republican-dominated Utah and Nebraska.
In 2023, she predicts that 18 state legislatures will vote on legislation to ban slavery.
Sheriff warns of 'unexpected consequences'
There have been very few prominent opponents against states' efforts to remove the language of slavery, but the movement has faced some resistance from critics, who say that paying fair wages to prisoners would be too expensive, that they do not deserve equal compensation – or that change could harm prisoners.
A vote in the California legislature to remove the reference to slavery from the law failed this summer, when Democrats, including the governor, warned that inmates would need to pay $1.5bn (£1.3bn) to the state's $15 an hour minimum wage. ) will cost more.
The Oregon State Sheriff's Association there opposed the measure, saying it would have "unintended consequences" and the loss of all "corrective programs", including low-paying tasks such as libraries, kitchens and laundry.
The group says these give prisoners something to do and "serve as an incentive for good behavior"—a factor during parole hearings.
It says two problems with the measure are that it applies only to convicts, except for those in pre-trial custody, and that it can spell the end of any prison program that is specifically enforced by a court sentence. not authorized.
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“The Oregon Sheriff does not endorse or support slavery and/or involuntary slavery in any form,” the association says in a handbook to voters, adding that the passage of the measure will result in “the elimination of all correctional programs.” and will increase the cost of local prison operations".
A Chain Gang, pictured in 1909
Prisoners contribute to the supply chain and economy in many ways, some of them surprising.
He has been tasked with making everything from eyeglasses to car license plates to city park benches. They process beef, milk and cheese, and work in call support centers of government agencies and major companies.
It can be hard to track which businesses have used prison labor because the work is usually done for a subcontractor. The subcontractor then sells the products and services to major companies that are sometimes unaware of their origins.
According to a June report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), companies that have previously benefited from prison labor in Utah alone include American Express, Apple, Pepsi-Co and FedEx.
At least 30 states have included prison personnel in their emergency operations plans for natural disasters and other civil disruptions. As the ACLU reports, they fight wildfires in at least 14 states.
However, if the five states with ensuing votes backed the change, the lives of prisoners are unlikely to change overnight.
"These referendums are necessary, but not enough, to end slavery," says ACLU human rights researcher Jennifer Turner. Courts will still need to explain what rights prison workers have, and whether they will receive benefits -- such as sick leave -- that other non-incarcerated employees are legally entitled to.
States that have previously removed slavery exemptions have differing results.
In Colorado, a prisoner sued the state, arguing that it was violating the slavery ban. But a court ruled in August that voters did not intend to eliminate all prison labor and dismissed the case.
According to the New York Times, a prison in Nebraska has begun paying inmates $20 to $30 per week.
More legal challenges are expected as prisoners push for rights and protections.
Mr Davis, who was wrongfully jailed in Louisiana, says removing the prison exemption would take away an "incentive" for his home state to imprison its citizens.
"I believe that any person of conscience, any person who understands property law, understands that human beings should not be other people's property," he tells BBC News.
"And they should not be the property of the state of Louisiana."
