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


  • Predatory capitalism has driven down wages and created a dystopia for workers.
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: How the Billionaires Rule
    08 Jul 2021
    Predatory Capitalism Has Driven Down Wages and Created a Dystopia for Workers.
  •  Critical Race Theory Debacle Signals the Collapse of the American Empire
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Critical Race Theory Debacle Signals the Collapse of the American Empire
    08 Jul 2021
    Whatever the strengths and limitations of Critical Race Theory, the debate over its usefulness to establishment circles is indicative of the American Empire’s rapid decline
  • .MANIFESTO: International African Service Bureau’s Manifesto Against War, 1938
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MANIFESTO: International African Service Bureau’s Manifesto Against War, 1938
    08 Jul 2021
    German Nazis, Italian Fascists, British, French, Belgian democracies – all are the same, imperialist exploiters .
  • Legal scholar Francis A. Boyle told Ann Garrison that a “Responsibility-to-Protect” intervention in Ethiopia would be illegal and catastrophic.
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopian Conflict and International Law
    08 Jul 2021
    Legal scholar Francis A. Boyle told Ann Garrison that a “Responsibility-to-Protect” intervention in Ethiopia would be illegal and catastrophic.
  • A known known…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    A known known…
    08 Jul 2021
    “…there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns—things we do not know we know…” -- an infamous War Criminal
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us