Sydney Kamlager-Dove | Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove Official website
Sydney Kamlager-Dove | Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove Official website
WASHINGTON, DC – On May 22, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37) and Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO-05) introduced the Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act to strengthen protections for incarcerated workers from discrimination and civil rights violations. The bill would help prevent the exploitation of incarcerated people by explicitly prohibiting discrimination and retaliation against incarcerated workers or individuals who choose not to work while incarcerated. Companion legislation was introduced by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) earlier this year.
“It is unfathomable that prison workers are exploited due to a loophole in the 13th Amendment,” said Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove. “I am proud to stand alongside fellow criminal justice advocates, Rep. Cleaver and Sen. Booker, as we work to address this relic of slavery and provide dignity to the work that incarcerated workers are forced into. The Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act would provide greater protections for prison labor by preventing discriminatory punishments, prohibiting mandatory work, and amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include correctional facilities under workplace discrimination protections. I look forward to a future where for-profit companies are prevented from abusing our criminal justice system, and I will continue to fight in Congress to make sure our system is truly just.”
“Just because an individual enters a correctional facility does not mean that their civil rights should be left behind when they step on the grounds. However, as so many formerly and currently incarcerated individuals will tell you, that is exactly what happens for many people in these facilities, as they are either forced to labor under horrific conditions or punished for refusing to do so,” said Congressman Cleaver. “The Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act takes long overdue, critical steps to protect incarcerated workers from discriminatory or retaliatory actions, and I’m proud to introduce this legislation with Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove and Senator Booker.”
“No individual should be subjected to exploitation or retaliation while incarcerated,” said Senator Booker. “This legislation is an important step toward bringing about meaningful change in our prison and labor systems by prohibiting mandatory labor, addressing retaliatory actions, and ensuring compliance with existing civil rights laws. I commend Representatives Cleaver and Kamlager-Dove for their work on this important cause and for introducing this bill in the House."
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits slavery “except as a punishment for crime.” This language has enabled the proliferation of a prison system of exploitative, unpaid, and extremely low-paid labor in jails and prisons across the country. Individuals incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) who are “physically and mentally able to work” are required to work in an inmate work program. If incarcerated people refuse to work, BOP officers are authorized to carry out a designated list of disciplinary sanctions against them. In state and local correctional facilities, many incarcerated people who refuse to work also face retaliation, often in the form of disciplinary segregation, loss of earned time, or loss of access to food and hygiene products.
To protect against retaliatory and discriminatory actions toward incarcerated workers, the Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act would:
- Prohibit the requirement of people in BOP facilities to work;
- End the requirement that incarcerated individuals exhaust all administrative remedies before bringing a civil rights lawsuit under federal law;
- Prohibit retaliation against an incarcerated person by any officer of a correctional facility for refusal to work;
- Remove “refusing to work” from the list of BOP inmate behaviors justifying sanctions, including disciplinary segregation, monetary fines, loss of earned time, and delayed parole;
- Include correctional facilities as covered employers and incarcerated workers as covered employees under the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
- Require correctional facilities to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act, including notice provisions, policy implementation and training, and annual reports to the Attorney General.
In addition, the Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act is endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Brennan Center for Justice, Economic Policy Institute, Human Rights Watch, Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, National Employment Law Project, Safer Foundation, and Vera Institute of Justice.
The Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act is the fourth piece of legislation introduced by Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove aimed at reforming our criminal justice system. She has previously introduced the Correctional Facilities Occupational Safety and Health Act to increase workplace protections for prison workers, the Pregnant Women in Custody Act to address the treatment of pregnant inmates, and the Women in Criminal Justice Reform Act to change the way our prison system disproportionately impacts women, often resulting in harsher sentencing, poorer health care, and other discriminatory practices.
Official text of the Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act is available here.
Original source can be found here.
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