New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has introduced a package of bills that would end cruel labor practices in U.S. prisons and tackle fair pay and workplace discrimination on behalf of incarcerated individuals.
In a statement obtained by theGrio, Booker proposed that the four bills — the Fair Wages for Incarcerated Workers Act of 2023, Correctional Facilities Occupational Safety and Health Act, Ensuring Work Opportunities in Correctional Facilities Act and Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act — would address “inhumane and unacceptable” prison labor conditions in America’s correctional facilities.
The Democratic senator believes these bills would end unfair and abusive labor policies.
“The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery ‘except as a punishment for crime,’ but this language has enabled and expanded the exploitation of incarcerated people in our country’s prisons,” he said.
Booker’s prison reform legislation would ensure that incarcerated individuals are deemed employees and would require correctional facilities to routinely report workplace safety and labor conditions to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
Beth Schwartzapfel, a reporter for the Marshall Project, told theGrio that being an incarcerated individual is a “dehumanizing experience” and that Booker’s legislation would be “life-changing.”
“People don’t have access to basic human needs,” she contended. “People don’t have access to their loved ones in any regular way. People don’t have access to their humanity in a way. The culture of prison is such a machismo sort of posturing, violent place that is all about survival.”
Other parts of Booker’s effort would ensure that incarcerated individuals are paid a livable wage and would provide resources for inmates to seek employment and educational opportunities while behind bars. He said that more…
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