NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7873
SPONSOR: Meeks TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the civil rights law and the correction law, in relation
to ending slavery for incarcerated individuals in New York state
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would formally abolish slavery, involuntary servitude, and
forced labor in New York State prisons, and, by doing so, would end one
of the last vestiges of slavery in our state.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 provides the title of the bill, "No Slavery in New York Act."
Section 2 amends article 2 of the civil rights law by adding a new
section to abolish slavery, involuntary servitude, and forced labor for
persons convicted of crimes. Section 3 amends article 7 of the
correction law by adding a new section to prohibit labor that is
compelled, induced or otherwise provided against an incarcerated indi-
vidual's will by force, threat of force, or other adverse action.
Section 4 amends section 2 of the correction law by adding a new subdi-
vision, which defines "adverse action" to include the use of the insti-
tutional rules, regulations, and disciplinary process referenced in
Section 138 of the correction law. Section 5 provides for a severabili-
ty clause if any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or
part of this act shall be adjudged to be invalid. Section 6 provides for
the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Slavery, involuntary servitude, and forced labor are not New York
values. However, while the New York State legislature passed legislation
in 1817 to free thousands of African American New Yorkers by 1827, New
York stands apart from most states in having no provision in modern-day
law barring the practice of slavery. Even after the passage of the 13"
Amendment which banned chattel slavery except for those convicted of
crimes, New York remained silent. Unlike most states, New York's
present-day law has no provisions abolishing slavery. Since 2018, eight
states - Colorado, Nebraska, Utah, Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont
and Nevada - have voted to amend their state laws, to make the use of
slavery and forced labor in prisons illegal. It is far past time that
New York recognize an unqualified, formal prohibition on slavery in
state law. Further, the state must take steps to address the modern-day
prison labor system, which shamefully has its roots in New York State.
Pioneered more than 200 years ago at Auburn Prison in Auburn, New York,
the Auburn System was designed to force incarcerated New Yorkers to work
for no pay producing goods and services that could then be sold for
profit. The goal was eventually to create a prison labor industry that
could offset the costs of incarceration. Little has changed. People in
New York carceral facilities are still forced-sometimes in unsafe condi-
tions or without proper protective gear-to work under threat of punish-
ment for as little as ten cents an hour. Their forced labor produces
goods and services like asbestos and lead removal, furniture for SUNY
and NYC schools, government office furniture, eyeglasses, trash cans,
license plates, as well as the hundreds of prison maintenance jobs that
keep the system running. Forced labor, penny wages, and lack of legal
protections have led numerous scholars to conclude that the current
labor conditions inside state and federal prisons are a direct outgrowth
of slavery. It is incumbent on us all to remove one of the last
vestiges of slavery and reform the current system, which violates human
rights and is an affront to human dignity.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A3412/5308 of 2021-22: Opinion referred to Judiciary
A8661/56781 of 2019-20: Opinion referred to Judiciary
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate.
