‘It’s huge’: State changes law to ban slavery, and now prisoners who are forced to work take action

What could go wrong with a public vote to change a state law, and ban slavery within its borders?

Colorado could explain. Officials now are in a legal fight over their practices that force prison inmates to work, because of the law change.

A report from Westword explains two Colorado inmates brought the case in 2022 after voters approved Amendment A, a 2018 ballot measure that eliminated a provision in the state constitution allowing “slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime … in all circumstances.”

They argued that prevents the state from forcing prisoners to work under threat of losing privileges, being placed in isolation or adding time to their sentence, and now those allegations are part of a class action case against the state.

That ruling was from Denver District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace, who said the case launched by Richard Lilgerose and Harold Mortis will continue.

Wallce approved class-action status for the case, which means that any number of additional plaintiff-class individuals could benefit. That class includes “all people incarcerated by the State of Colorado who are now, or will in the future be subjected to mandatory work policies and practices of the Colorado Department of Corrections.”

Valerie Collins, a lawyer working on the case, said, “It’s huge. The lawsuit itself is the first in this kind of procedural case where a state has gotten rid of the exemption clause.”

She noted other states have adopted language similar to Colorado’s: Alabama, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Tennessee and Vermont.

Democrat Gov. Jared Polis has shown no inclination to back down.

“The state and the Polis administration have continued to fight against this case for years,” explained David Seligman, a spokesman for Towards Justice. “That’s why the court certifying the class action represents a really important step for the litigation.”

The change had been pushed by a group called Abolish Slavery Colorado, and organizer Jumoke Emery said, “However we feel about the criminal justice system, whether we feel like it’s doing a great job or a bad job, we don’t want our criminal justice system to be slavery.”

The amendment itself said it was not intended to “withdraw legitimate opportunities to work for individuals who have been convicted,” but that it was instead to “prohibit compulsory labor from such individuals.”

The report explains Mortis, recovering from COVID-19, was ordered to start working eight-hour shifts in a prison kitchen, and was told he could be removed from the “incentive-living program” if he didn’t comply. Eventually he did.

Lilgerose, also still was recovering from COVID when he was ordered into a food-services job. He lost earned time when he stopped working.

Wallace pointed out that inmates were “being held in their cells more than twenty hours a day for failing to work” and noted state rules that confirm inmates can be “moved to a higher security prison or higher security area within their current facility because he or she refuses to work.”