WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, #EndTheException joined Senators Jeff Merkley (OR) and Cory Booker (NJ) and Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-5) for the reintroduction of the Abolition Amendment, a joint resolution that would abolish slavery for all in the United States. The Abolition Amendment, which gained bipartisan support in the 117th Congress, seeks to end the exception in the 13th Amendment that still allows slavery and involuntary servitude to be used “as a punishment for crime.” Due to this exception, slavery is still legal and real for incarcerated people across the nation.
“This country was founded on the principles of equality and justice — principles that have never been compatible with the horrific realities of slavery and white supremacy,” said Senator Jeff Merkley. “Nearly 160 years after the 13th Amendment was ratified, the evil remnants of slavery persist in the U.S., embedded in the heart of our Constitution. To live up to our nation’s promise of justice for all, we must take a long overdue step towards those principles by removing the loophole in our ban on slavery. No slavery, no exceptions.”
“Slavery was wrong from day one, and we should have abolished it when the 13th Amendment was ratified,” said Congresswoman Nikema Williams. “I will keep pushing — no matter how long it takes — for Congress to close the Slavery Loophole in the Constitution, finally ending slavery in America once and for all. People in states across the country are making their voices heard by voting to abolish slavery. We’ve waited long enough. The time to pass the Abolition Amendment is now.”
When the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865, the exception was included as a concession to slave states that did not want to give up access to cheap labor. During Reconstruction, the exception was used to enact Black Codes, which led to the criminalization and incarceration of newly freed Black people and brought in the most brutal era of convict-leasing, a practice by which governments leased incarcerated people to private businesses for their labor.
“In 2023, we still have legal slavery in the United States because Congress left this institution in place for “punishment for a crime” when it passed the Thirteenth Amendment. This has allowed our government to exploit individuals who are incarcerated and to profit from their forced labor — perpetuating the oppression of Black Americans, mass incarceration, and systemic racism,” said Senator Cory Booker. “This loophole is at odds with our nation’s foundational principles of liberty, justice, and equality for all our people. It is time we pass the Abolition Amendment and finally end the morally reprehensible practice of slavery in this country. We must ensure that all people are treated with fairness and dignity to truly live up to our nation’s promise.”
Still today, more than 150 years later, people who are incarcerated across our country are disproportionately Black, and their enslavement is legally permissible under the exception. Moreover, the system overall draws heavily from slavery for its own brutality, warehousing people, shipping them around the country, separating them from their families, exploiting their labor and bodies, denying them care and eroding their spirit, and too often killing them.
As it relates to labor specifically, incarcerated people are forced to work in unsafe working conditions, without training, under the threat of further punishment, and all for pennies an hour, if anything. They have no labor protections, and if they refuse to work, they can be punished with beatings, denial of visits and calls with their loved ones, solitary confinement, or even the denial of parole. You can listen to their stories in this video series, and we can connect you with some of the video subjects.
“Slavery is wrong, under any and every circumstance, for all people, and our Constitution should reflect that," said Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises. “Slavery is a system that relies on the denial of others’ humanity, which we all agree is reprehensible. Incarcerated people deserve the same protection of their basic human rights, including the right to be protected from slavery, as all people. It’s past time that we put an end to this exception and abolish slavery for all. We applaud Senators Merkley and Booker and Congresswoman Williams for introducing this joint resolution. This is a moral issue, and should not be a matter of party politics. It’s time for Congress to act.”
Studies show that nearly 9 out of 10 people in the United States do not know that slavery is still legal. But the Abolition Amendment comes at a moment of growing awareness. In November, voters in Tennessee, Oregon, Alabama, and Vermont approved ballot measures to change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery as punishment for crime. They joined Colorado, the first state to approve ending the exception in its constitution, in 2018, and Nebraska and Utah, which both followed in 2020.
“Slavery is hidden behind prison walls, in a system rife with racial prejudice, abuse, and inadequate oversight — out of sight and mind as long as we may pretend people inside prison are not people. They are,” said Celina Chapin, Associate Director of Advocacy at the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. “Where slavery exists, community health, rehabilitation, justice, and true public safety cannot. ARC is honored to stand alongside partners across the country in supporting the re-introduction of the Abolition Amendment.”
”We are grateful to Congressmember Williams and Senators Merkley and Booker for re-introducing this amendment, which would have life-changing consequences for more than a million people behind bars today,” said Sean Kyler, Operations Manager, Advocacy & Partnerships, at Vera Institute of Justice. “Congress began ending slavery in 1865; today, it must finish the job.”
“Having the Abolition Amendment re-introduced gets us one step closer to rectifying a deep wrong that we have allowed to fester in our country – the loophole that has permitted the public and private sectors to perpetuate slavery and involuntary servitude for millions of people in our U.S. prison system,” said Jorge A. Renaud, LatinoJustice PRLDEF National Criminal Justice Director. “As someone who spent decades in prison contributing hard labor without receiving adequate compensation or dignity, I know the deep scars and harm to our communities inflicted by a system that removes choice and people’s self-worth. We must finish the work started more than a century ago to align our country’s law with its best principles and end all forms of slavery once and for all, for all of us.”
The Abolition Amendment is supported by over 90 national organizations, including Worth Rises, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Vera Institute, and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, with the support of the Abolish Slavery National Network.
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Worth Rises is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and ending the exploitation of those it targets. Follow @WorthRises on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.