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Eurymedion t1_iwtlx2e wrote

>Do you support an amendment to prohibit the use of involuntary servitude except as it applies to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice? (Amends Article I, Section 3)

In simpler terms, "Do you support ending slavery except in situations where slavery's used as a legal punishment in criminal justice"?

It's just the 13th Amendment on a state level.

But this is so weird. The NPR article says ballot measures in states like Colorado passed that removed the prison labour exception, but aren't such changes technically unconstitutional? Not that many people would go to court over this.

Well...maybe private prison operators.

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RamjiRaoSpeaking21 t1_iwu2vfn wrote

It's not unconstitutional. The constitution doesn't say that slave labor needs to be part of the punishment for crime, it just doesn't restrict prisons from using slave labor as punishment for crime.

Something that's unconstitutional cannot be legal. But everything that's not unconstitutional is not necessarily legal. For example, there is nothing unconstitutional about an employee firing someone on the basis of gender. But it's still illegal.

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