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: Maurice Rafael Magaña’s “Cartographies of Youth Resistance”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Maurice Rafael Magaña’s “Cartographies of Youth Resistance”
    27 Jan 2021
    Activist youth who weave deep histories of resistance together with anarchist, autonomous, and decolonial politics and urban culture.
  • BAR Book Forum: Andrea Allen’s “Violence and Desire in Brazilian Lesbian Relationships”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Andrea Allen’s “Violence and Desire in Brazilian Lesbian Relationships”
    27 Jan 2021
    Even those who are significantly marginalized act in ways that, unfortunately, inflict pain on others.
  • Where Trumpism Lives
    Jacob Whiton
    Where Trumpism Lives
    27 Jan 2021
    Support for pro-Trump Republicans remains driven by relatively well-off whites in fast-growing, rapidly diversifying suburbs – not by economic despair in rural America.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. and the Socialist Within 
    Stephen Joseph Scott
    Martin Luther King Jr. and the Socialist Within 
    27 Jan 2021
    Each year in January as King is honored in the eyes of the public, there is little mention of the demands of the man and his mission: his fight for economic justice.
  • Amazon Launches Anti-Union Website to Derail Alabama Union Drive
    Lauren Kaori Gurley
    Amazon Launches Anti-Union Website to Derail Alabama Union Drive
    27 Jan 2021
    The drive at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama marks one of the few times in the company's history that workers will have the opportunity to vote in a union election.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us