Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Incarcerated Workers in Alabama File Lawsuit to End Involuntary Servitude
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
10 May 2024
🖨️ Print Article

Black Agenda Radio · Incarcerated Workers in Alabama File Lawsuit to End Involuntary Servitude

Six incarcerated people in the state of Alabama have filed a lawsuit against their governor and the Commissioner of Corrections. Alabama’s prison system is the most overcrowded in the country, where Black people make up 26 percent of the population, but 53 percent of the prison population. Following a successful labor strike by incarcerated workers, Alabama voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that expanded the ban on slavery and involuntary servitude to prison. With their state court lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek enforcement of the amendment. Jessica Vosburgh is a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights which represents the plaintiffs. She joins us from Birmingham, Alabama.

Prison Labor
Alabama prison strike
Center for Constitutional Rights

Related Podcasts

Involuntary servitude is slavery
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Ending Prison Slavery in California
14 June 2024
Dorsey Nunn recently retired as Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (
Black Agenda Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio May 10, 2024
10 May 2024
In this week’s program we discuss a lawsuit filed by incarcerated people in Alabama, asking the state to end involuntary servitude, and also a conv
Black Agenda Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio February 2, 2024
02 February 2024
In this week's segment we hear about abolishing slavery that exists in the incarceration system, and also the second part of our interview on

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s “Becoming Human”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s “Becoming Human”
    20 May 2020
    Black people are without the shelter of rights and protection, whether invited into or locked out of ‘the human.’”
  • Pivot to Mass Struggle: A Lesson from Ferguson
    Ashton Rome
    Pivot to Mass Struggle: A Lesson from Ferguson
    20 May 2020
    We are entering a terrifying and daunting time that requires a change in approach and tactics.
  • Cancel the Rent 
    Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
    Cancel the Rent 
    20 May 2020
    We have to reverse the strange alchemy where markets turn land, concrete, steel, and glass into money, while turning people out into the streets.
  • A Universal Appeal for Humanity to End Militarism and Stop War
    Abdallah El Harif and Vijay Prashad
    A Universal Appeal for Humanity to End Militarism and Stop War
    20 May 2020
    A bloc of countries, led by the United States of America, is stubbornly persisting in using force to maintain and extend their global dominance.
  • Prisons Are Using the Pandemic to Impose Lockdowns
    Michelle Chen
    Prisons Are Using the Pandemic to Impose Lockdowns
    20 May 2020
    More than 300,000 people in prisons or jails are under “full or partial lockdown” in response to the pandemic.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us