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: Short Meditations on Christina Sharpe’s "In the Wake"
    Jade Bentil
    BAR Book Forum: Short Meditations on Christina Sharpe’s "In the Wake"
    03 Feb 2021
    To read In the Wake  is to read a love letter to Black people in the everywhere of this world.
  • Building Solidarity 
    Renée Feltz 
    Building Solidarity 
    03 Feb 2021
    Mutual aid tends to expose the reality that people lack what they need, while also creating spaces to meet those needs and build a shared analysis.
  • Book Review: The Prologue, The Prototype, The O.G. Hater
    Todd Steven Burroughs
    Book Review: The Prologue, The Prototype, The O.G. Hater
    03 Feb 2021
    Hubert Henry Harrison was a Black intellectual inferno, a warrior in the cause of a race- and class-based politics.
  • Beyond Slogans: Palestinians Need an Urgent, Centralized Strategy to Counter Israel in Africa
    Ramzy Baroud
    Beyond Slogans: Palestinians Need an Urgent, Centralized Strategy to Counter Israel in Africa
    03 Feb 2021
    Israel has accelerated its plans to exploit Africa’s many political and economic opportunities, especially as the continent is now an open ground for renewed global attention.
  • The Veiled Violence of Racism
    Dr. Kweli Nzito
    The Veiled Violence of Racism
    03 Feb 2021
    The struggle against white supremacy dares to undermine a way of life that has steered and informed White American and European imperialism for 500 years.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us