Alabama prisoners sued to stop forced labor—a court dismissed their case

Five incarcerated people in Alabama are fighting to push forward a lawsuit, Stanley v. Ivey, challenging the state's power to punish prisoners who resist forced labor. Despite a state constitutional provision abolishing slavery that was passed in 2022 by referendum, Montgomery County Circuit Court dismissed the plaintiffs' lawsuit, arguing Governor Kay Ivey and Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm were protected by state sovereign immunity. Emily Early, Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights' Southern Regional Office, joins Rattling the Bars to discuss the lawsuit and the plaintiffs' ongoing fight to have their case appealed. 

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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