Prop. 6 supporters ask voters to end slavery in California. Isn't it already illegal?
Gathered on a sunny morning in Los Angeles on Wednesday, a coalition of criminal justice reform advocates urged voters to pass Proposition 6 and finally rid California of slavery nearly 175 years after it joined the union — as a free state.“We’re here to confront the uncomfortable truth that in our beautiful, great state of California, slavery still exists in our Constitution,” Tanisha Cannon, managing director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, told the crowd of supporters.
Her message was part of a broader campaign pitching support for Proposition 6 as a vote to “end slavery.” Yet according to the official state voter guide, Proposition 6 has nothing to do with slavery.California Proposition 6 asks California voters to amend the state Constitution to ban involuntary servitude, which would end forced labor in state prisons.Oct.
23, 2024Instead, the measure asks voters whether to remove a provision in the California Constitution that uses language similar to the 13th Amendment of the U.S.Constitution allowing jails and prisons to use “involuntary servitude” as a punishment for crime.
If it passes, Proposition 6 would ban that practice, effectively putting an end to mandatory work assignments for prisoners.Proposition 6 proponents say there is no difference between slavery and involuntary servitude in prisons because inmates typically have no say over their job assignments and often face disciplinary action if they refuse to work.
And, they argue, today’s prison labor industry is an extension of a law California passed soon after joining the union in 1850 that criminalized fugitive slaves and sent them back to plantations in the South.“Involuntary servitude is slavery by another name,” Cannon said.
“Prop.6 will finally end that cruel practice.” Despite efforts to peg Proposition 6 as a simple anti-slavery measure, some voters aren’t reading it that way.
Only 41% of likely voters said they planned to vote for Proposition ...