In a state that prides itself on progress and fairness,
it is shocking and unacceptable that California still allows the forced labor of its incarcerated people. As wildfires rage across the Los Angeles area,
inmates are being put in immeasurable danger fighting to save lives and property from the flames, all while being paid mere
dollars a day -- between $5.80 and $10.24 to be exact.
Sign the petition to demand forced labor in California prisons!While the firefighting program run by the California department of corrections is technically voluntary, state law dictates that inmates are required to work in some way, almost always for mere pennies an hour.
This is merely the illusion of choice. Incarcerated people cannot choose to focus on their rehabilitation when in prison.
Rather, they get to 'choose' which inhumane work they'll be severely underpaid to do.In 2024,
California's Prop 6 aimed to end this exploitation by amending the state constitution to remove the provision that allows forced labor as a part of punishment. You see, when slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment, lawmakers snuck in language that would still allow slavery "as a punishment for crime."
That's right -- slavery is still alive and well in the U.S. in the form of forced prison labor like California's. But the state's attempt to end this cruel exploitation failed in November 2024.
Just months later, prisoners' lives are being put in horrific danger fighting the LA wildfires because this loophole still exists!
This is modern-day slavery, and it must end now.We demand that California lawmakers reintroduce Prop 6 and finally stop using prison labor to fuel the state's economy and disaster response efforts.
These inmates' lives matter. They have families, dreams, goals, and they should have better futures ahead of them. But by using them as cheap labor to do highly dangerous, important work for the state,
California is robbing them of their dignity and possibly even their lives. Join us in demanding that California lawmakers act now. We cannot continue to allow this state-sponsored abuse to happen.
Sign the petition to urge California's legislature to act swiftly and reintroduce Prop 6 to abolish forced prison labor once and for all.