Ahead of Juneteenth weekend, let's tell Congress to act.

ACLU Supporter –

Ahead of this Juneteenth weekend, there's a glaring reality that our country needs to face: Despite many of us being taught that the 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude more than 150 years ago – forced labor still persists in our country.

What I'm talking about is the exploitative practice of forced prison labor – and it is largely a result of something called "the exception clause" in the 13th Amendment itself.

The ACLU released a shocking new report this week that shows exactly how this "exception" continues to fuel human rights abuses against incarcerated workers across the country. I'll break that down for you in one second, but first I want you to know that there's something you can do to help end the injustice:

A critical piece of legislation is in Congress right now – called the Abolition Amendment – which seeks to nullify this egregious loophole once and for all. We just need to push our lawmakers to take action.

So please, send a message with us to your members of Congress today and tell them to pass the Abolition Amendment immediately. <[link removed]>

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To be clear: The "exception clause" states that slavery is barred except for people who have been convicted of crimes. And our latest findings show that it has allowed for millions of workers in prisons over the years to be exploited, underpaid, and excluded from workplace safety protection laws.

In fact, more than 76% of incarcerated workers reported facing punishment – such as solitary confinement, denial of sentence reductions, or loss of family visitation – if they decline or were unable to work. And that doesn't begin to cover the inhumane conditions they're also made to work within.

It's no coincidence either that this loophole disproportionately encouraged the criminalization and re-enslavement of Black people during the Jim Crow era – and that we still feel the impacts of this systemic racism today in the disproportionate incarceration of Black and Brown people in our country's prisons.

ACLU Supporter, for a nation that claims to be the "land of the free," forced labor of any kind is unacceptable, and it is unconscionable that we've kept this exception within the United States Constitution.

Let's bring it to an end: Send a message to Congress today and tell them to pass the Abolition Amendment immediately. <[link removed]>

Thanks for taking action,

Jennifer Turner
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Principal Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program

P.S. If you'd like to read the ACLU's full report on the exploitation of incarcerated workers within our prison systems, you can dig into it here. <[link removed]> And thank you once again for staying informed and fighting alongside us for everyone's most fundamental freedoms.

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