On a November day in 2024, the people of California looked at a question that reaches back into the oldest arguments about freedom and punishment, and chose to leave their constitution as it was. A measure that would have struck the exception allowing forced labor as punishment for crime was turned down, so the old words remain, and with them an arrangement that lets incarcerated people work for pennies an hour. The question was tied to a wider reckoning with the state's history of racism, which gave the amendment a weight beyond its text. Whether the matter returns in some other shape is the
California Voters Reject Ban on Forced Prison Labor in Constitutional Amendment Vote
Incarcerated people are often paid less than $1 an hour to fight fires, clean cells and do landscaping work at cemeteries.
The exception for punishment of crime remains
Mark
So what exactly did Californians vote on?
Mimi
Whether to amend the state Constitution to ban forced labor in any form. It currently bans it except as punishment for a crime, and voters said no to changing that.
Mark
Why does that exception matter in practice?
Mimi
Advocates point to it as the basis for prison work. People who are incarcerated are often paid less than $1 an hour to fight fires, clean cells and do landscaping at cemeteries.
Luke
Worth saying that "often paid less than $1" is a general description. The reporting doesn't give a specific wage figure or break it down by job.
Mark
And where did the measure come from?
Mimi
It was part of a package of reparations proposals from lawmakers, meant to atone for a history of racism and discrimination against Black Californians.
Luke
The source says it was in that package, but it doesn't say how that framing played with voters. We don't know why people voted the way they did.
Mark
Are other states doing this?
Mimi
Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont have approved amendments removing slavery and involuntary servitude exceptions in recent years.
Luke
And we don't have California's vote margin here either, so I wouldn't read more into the result than the fact that it failed.
El Pulso
- California voters rejected a ballot measure that would have banned forced labor in every form, leaving the state's constitution unchanged.
- The exception for punishment of crime survives, and advocates who pushed to remove it now face a settled result at the ballot box.
- Incarcerated people are often paid less than a dollar an hour to fight fires, clean cells and tend cemetery grounds, and that reality continues under the existing text.
- Other states including Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont have already removed similar exceptions, sharpening the contrast with California's choice.
- The path forward is unclear, and the central question is whether supporters will seek a new route to change the rules on prison labor.
On a November day in 2024, the people of California looked at a question that reaches back into the oldest arguments about freedom and punishment, and chose to leave their constitution as it was. A measure that would have struck the exception allowing forced labor as punishment for crime was turned down, so the old words remain, and with them an arrangement that lets incarcerated people work for pennies an hour. The question was tied to a wider reckoning with the state's history of racism, which gave the amendment a weight beyond its text. Whether the matter returns in some other shape is the open thread the people of California will now have to follow.
California voters have declined to rewrite their state constitution to ban forced labor in any form. The measure, reported from Sacramento by The Associated Press, would have removed the long-standing exception that permits forced labor as punishment for a crime, and with its defeat that language stays in place.
The exception was the heart of the fight. Criminal justice groups had focused on it as the legal basis for work that people in prison do for very little pay, often less than a dollar an hour, whether fighting fires, cleaning cells or doing landscaping at cemeteries.
The amendment was also part of a package of reparations proposals meant to address the history of racism and discrimination against Black Californians, and that connection shaped how it was presented. The vote does not change the constitutional text, and the arrangement advocates objected to remains intact. The reporting does not include vote totals or reactions from campaigners, lawmakers or corrections officials.
Several other states, including Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont, have recently moved to remove similar exceptions, which makes California's decision stand out. What comes next is unclear, and the reporting leaves open whether supporters will return with the idea in another form.
California voters have turned down a ballot measure that would have rewritten the state Constitution to ban forced labor in any form. The result, reported from Sacramento by The Associated Press, leaves in place the language that has stood for years: forced labor is prohibited, except as punishment for a crime.
That exception is the part advocates wanted gone. Criminal justice groups concerned about conditions inside prisons had focused on it as the legal footing for work that incarcerated people do for very little money. According to the reporting, people in prison are often paid less than $1 an hour to fight fires, clean cells and do landscaping work at cemeteries.
The measure did not come to the ballot alone. It was part of a package of reparations proposals introduced by lawmakers, an effort to atone for and offer redress for a history of racism and discrimination against Black Californians. The amendment was one piece of that larger set of proposals, and its connection to that history was part of how it was framed.
With the vote, the constitutional text does not change. The exception for punishment of crime remains, and so does the arrangement advocates objected to. The source does not give vote totals or margins, and it does not report reactions from campaigners, lawmakers or corrections officials.
California's result stands apart from what has happened elsewhere. In recent years, several other states, among them Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont, have approved constitutional amendments removing exceptions for slavery and involuntary servitude. Those changes addressed the same kind of language that California voters chose to keep.
The outcome leaves the question of prison labor pay and conditions where it was, at least as far as the state Constitution is concerned. What the reporting does not say is whether supporters will bring the idea back in another form, and that is the thing to watch in California after this vote.
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