In California, there are many issues voters will need to decide when they hit the polls this November.
Among the issues they will be asked to rule on whether prisoners should continue to be forced to work. Proposition 6 would stop the use of forced labor in prison.
Currently, the California constitution bans the use of forced labor, but makes an exception when it's punishment for a crime.
This means prisoners who don't have a qualifying exemption can be forced to work while incarcerated.
Many do work that keep prisons running like cooking, cleaning, and other tasks including working on hand crews at wildfire scenes.
Prop 6 would change that by making work while incarcerated fully voluntary.
Assemblywoman Lori Wilson of Suisun City wrote a constitutional amendment that passed in the legislature. But voters will have the final say on the November ballot.
A handful of other states have passed something similar to Prop 6. Wilson said it’s inhumane.
About one-third of all California prisoners work. Many of them are paid less than $1 per hour.
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Inmate firefighters can earn a few dollars an hour.
“It’s not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with the work assignments. It’s that people should be able to choose," said Carmen-Nicole Cox, director of government affairs at ACLU California Action. “I actually need to be able to focus on anger management. I need to focus on substance abuse. I want to get my college degree.”
However, there are some key benefits to working, including the fact that incarcerated workers can also earn “time credits” that reduce their sentences.
The ACLU California said it supports prop 6. Partially because currently, if qualifying prisoners refuse to work they could face consequences.
“It can have the result of extending your incarceration because it takes away your earned credits. It also keeps you away from your family because you’re denied family visits,” Cox said. There are no official opponents to prop 6.
Some lawmakers had previously worried the state budget could take a multi-million dollar hit if the department of corrections was required to pay the prisoner’s minimum wage. It led to a similar proposal being squashed in the state senate two years ago.
But Prop 6 said the prisons would set wages.
“It’s 2024. We absolutely have to get rid of arcane policies that prioritize exploitation over rehabilitation,” Cox said.
If passed, Prop 6 will go into effect on January 1, 2025.
