NATIONAL — Today, ahead of Labor Day, Worth Rises, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy organization, launched a digital letter archive with first-hand accounts of slavery in U.S. prisons. The letters, from over 200 incarcerated workers, were collected as part the public education efforts of the organization’s #EndTheException campaign, which seeks to end the exception in the 13th Amendment that still allows slavery to be used as criminal punishment. This archive is a testament to the courageous resilience of the 800,000 incarcerated workers forced to labor in the U.S. and a record of the continuation of slavery in this country.
The lack of wages and basic worker protections are described in letters from people like Allissia H., who is incarcerated in Arizona. Working in a garment factory that she describes as a sweatshop, she’s paid just $0.50 per hour as the government reaps the benefits of her sweat. Antoine L. “worked on the farm… picking vegetables in 90 degree to 100 degree heat… under the watch of a shotgun toting racist” while incarcerated in Alabama. For his work, he was paid “3 peanut butter sandwiches a day, no money at all.” Lee S., incarcerated in Colorado, is “forced to work for literally pennies a day or face the penalties for refusal,” which can include a write up, loss of commissary access, or even solitary confinement.
“These letters give us a glimpse into the day-to-day horrors of slavery that hundreds of thousands of people endure behind prison walls everyday. Incarcerated people work for pennies an hour — if they’re paid at all — under threat of serious disciplinary action. They labor under exploitative and often unsafe conditions, with none of the protections afforded to workers in the outside world,” said Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises. “These horrors are protected by the cloak of cover that prison walls provide. Now, with this archive, the public can hear the truth directly from those inside — and it must. We hope their words can inspire action and help us pass the Abolition Amendment to finally end slavery in our country.”
The archive was designed in partnership with Zealous, a nonprofit that uses art and technology to educate the public on social issues. The letters can be searched by popular themes: job type, working conditions, acts of resistance, and more. Individually and collectively, they speak to the imperative and urgency of passing the Abolition Amendment (SJR 33 / HJR 72) which would finally end the exception in the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that enables a vast network of government and corporate entities to exploit incarcerated people. The bill was reintroduced in June 2023 by Representative Nikema Williams (D-GA), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ).
“It’s been an honor to work with Worth Rises and the #EndTheException campaign to bring this powerful and necessary project to life. We are particularly excited to show how cutting-edge, interactive storytelling and design can push key justice issues to the forefront of the national conversation. This digital archive of first-hand experiences is an urgent reminder that we need to #EndTheException and end the ongoing use of slavery and labor exploitation in American prisons,” said Scott Hechinger, Executive Director of Zealous.
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ABOUT WORTH RISES
Worth Rises is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it targets. Worth Rises leads the #EndTheException campaign—supported by over 90 national organizations—to end the exception in the 13th Amendment that still allows slavery as criminal punishment. Follow @WorthRises on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Visit worthrises.org.
ABOUT ZEALOUS
Zealous is an award-winning national advocacy, education, and media initiative working to topple the historic imbalance of power over justice media, narratives, and policy. Since 2020, Zealous has done this by supporting, organizing, and skilling up coalitions of public defenders, advocates, and people with direct experience to harness the power of media, technology, storytelling, and the arts to tell more compelling stories and work better together.