BILL NUMBER: S8851

SPONSOR: MYRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to inmate labor

 
PURPOSE:

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States ended
slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime. Thus,
while forced labor is outlawed in "free society", it is allowed in pris-
on and jails. The Abolish Penal Servitude Act removes one of the last
vestiges of slavery and recognizes that incarcerated individuals should
not be compelled or coerced to work against their will.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 3 of section 170 of the Correction Law, as
added by chapter 256 of the Laws of 2010 by defining the term "nonprofit
organization" as one operated exclusively for religious, charitable, or
              

educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the
benefit of any private shareholder or individual.  The amendment expands
the foregoing ban to include the state of New York, the government of
the United States, to any state of the United States or political subdi-
vision thereof, and to any public corporation or eleemosynary associ-
ation or corporation funded in whole or in part by any federal, state or
local funds.

Section 1 also amends subdivision 3 of section 170 of the Correction Law
by adding a new subdivision 4, which is composed of two paragraphs.
Paragraph (a) ends involuntary servitude by stating that no prisoner
shall be compelled to provide labor against their will by actual force,
threats of force, threats of punishment, threats of legal coercion or by
any scheme, plan or pattern intended to cause the inmate to believe
that, if the inmate did not provide such labor, that inmate or another
person would suffer physical or psychological harm. Paragraph (b)
permits incarcerated individuals to commence a legal action in any court
of appropriate jurisdiction for damages, including punitive damages,
injunction relief and any such other remedies as may be appropriate
together will all reasonable attorney's fees and costs, provided suit is
commenced within ten years after the acts alleged to have violated
subdivision 4.

Section 2 states that the act shall take effect on the thirtieth day
after it shall have become law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner in History Heather Ann Thompson described
forced prison labor as an "institutional descendant of slavery" and the
associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center, a prisoners'
rights advocacy group, defined prison labor as prison slave labor.
Forced prison labor can be traced back to Black Codes where Southern
states enacted the racist convict-lease system following the Civil War,
which allowed former slaves to be rented back to their former masters.
Even the courts endorsed the practice. For example, in 1871 the Supreme
Court of Virginia referred to prisoners as "slaves of the state."

Involuntary servitude is a violation of human rights and dignity.  More-
over, using labor as a scourge rather than offering the opportunity to
work as a reward, deprives our corrections system of a tool to rehabili-
tate incarcerated individuals. By extirpating this vestige of slavery,
New York State will no longer be a participant in a practice that traces
its origins to our greatest sin.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is new legislation.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.