Prisoners Sue Alabama Prison Labor System Over ‘Modern-Day Slavery’ Work Programs

Alabama takes 40% of its prisoners’ gross earnings in work-release jobs.

Alabama prisoners, both current and former, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on Dec. 12 alleging that prison labor system programs equate to a “modern-day form of slavery,” HuffPost reports.

The lawsuit claims the amount of work performed in these programs is a violation of the U.S. and Alabama constitutions. Supported by the labor unions, the prisons accuse the state of profiting more than $450 million a year through coerced work, adding fast food companies and other corporations are benefitting from a “labor trafficking scheme.” Two labor groups, the Union of Southern Service Workers and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, are the plaintiffs, arguing that the state’s parole system purposely trapped Black prisoners into working jobs with little to no pay.

Under the program, Alabama takes 40% of the prisoners’ gross earnings in work-release jobs while the inmates are prone to other deductions just for transportation and uniform cleaning. In total, rates fall below the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Prisoners working for state and local government agencies are only paid $2 per day, not too far off from the daily wage rate set for prisoners in 1927.

Janet Herold, attorney for the plaintiffs and legal director of the legal aid group Justice Catalyst Law, described the prison work programs as the “the modern reincarnation of the notorious convict-leasing system, replacing slavery after the Civil War.”

“We are not talking here today about a new Jim Crow,” Herold said. “We’re talking here about the old Jim Crow.”

According to the Daily Mail, plaintiffs claim they were regularly forced to work at McDonald’s. Burger King, KFC, Wendy’s, meat processors, and Anheuser-Busch plants. The complaint says inmates live in constant fear of being murdered, stabbed, raped, or being subjected to additional punished more if they refuse to work.

Lakiera Walker, who was imprisoned from 2007 to 2023, said she was forced to work long, uncompensated hours after being threatened with “discipline.” Her duties included housekeeping, stripping floors, being a caregiver for mentally disabled or sick inmates, unloading chemical trucks, and working inside freezers, on top of working at Burger King — all for $2 a day. Walker said she was also subjected to sexual harassment by a supervising officer.

Walker remembers an officer telling her to “get up and go make us our 40 percent” when she was too sick to work. She said it was time to take a stand. “Those women need help. They really need a voice,” Walker said. “I knew I had to do something. I want justice for this forced labor.”

The defendants listed in the suit include the state’s Republican governor, Kay Ivey; attorney general Steve Marshall; and Alabama corrections and parole officials. Inmates want the state to abolish a “captive labor source” and pay current and past prisoners with damages.

According to the complaint, there were more than 1,300 incarcerated people enrolled in the work program as of September 2023.