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


  • 20 years After Durban: Africans and Afro-Descendants Colonized or Emancipated?
    Mireille Fanon Mendes France
    20 years After Durban: Africans and Afro-Descendants Colonized or Emancipated?
    26 Sep 2021
    The 20th anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) is an opportunity to analyze the state of African descended people.
  • The Resignation of Biden’s Special Envoy to Haiti Once Again Exposes the White Supremacist Foundations of U.S. Foreign Policy, No Matter Which Party Is In Charge
    Black Alliance For Peace
    The Resignation of Biden’s Special Envoy to Haiti Once Again Exposes the White Supremacist Foundations of U.S. Foreign Policy, No Matter Which Party Is In Charge
    26 Sep 2021
    The blatant racism of Biden's Haiti policies—in both controlling Haiti’s governance and the illegal and inhuman abuses of Haitian asylum seekers—was too much even for his special envo
  • A Racial Reckoning at Doctors Without Borders
    Mara Kardas-Nelson, Ngozi Cole, Sean Campbell
    A Racial Reckoning at Doctors Without Borders
    26 Sep 2021
    The Nobel Peace Prize winning organization Doctors Without Borders has been accused of racist policies which privilege so-called ex-pat workers from North America and Europe over local medical
  • Abusing Migrants While on Horseback Fits With the Border Patrol's Long History of Brutality
    Sarah Turberville, Chris Rickerd
    Abusing Migrants While on Horseback Fits With the Border Patrol's Long History of Brutality
    26 Sep 2021
    Such cruelty warrants a congressional investigation—not only into the specific actions in Del Rio but, more importantly, into systemic problems within Border Patrol that allow such abusive cond
  • Claudia Passport
    Lola Olufemi
    Claudia Jones: A Life in Search of the Communist Horizon
    26 Sep 2021
    This is the foreword to the new edition of Marika Sherwood’s Claudia Jones: A Life in Exile (Lawrence Wishart, 2021).
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us