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Committee hears amendment to remove slavery exception from state constitution; witness describes prison labor experiences
Summary
Representative Richardson presented HJR 1,002 to remove the constitutional clause that permits slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for crime, and a witness with decades of incarceration experience described conditions he said amounted to forced labor.
Representative Richardson presented House Joint Resolution 1,002 to the House State Agencies Committee, proposing a constitutional amendment to repeal the clause that permits slavery or involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime from the Arkansas Constitution.
The sponsor described the amendment as an effort to "fully abolish slavery in all forms" in the state constitution and to give voters the opportunity to remove the exception that applies when someone is convicted of a crime.
Witness testimony: lived experience and claims about prison labor
Kaleem Nazim, testifying for the organization Decarcerate, told the committee he spent 28 years and 11 months incarcerated and described practices he said amounted to forced labor. Nazim said refusal to work in prison could trigger punitive sanctions including loss of visitation, commissary privileges or placement in solitary confinement; he described so‑called "host squads" and alleged inmates were used for domestic work at wardens' homes. "If you don't go to work, you receive a punishment... it's forced labor," Nazim said, and urged the committee to remove the constitutional exception.
Committee questions and missing agency testimony
Committee members asked whether staff from the Department of Correction could address current prison labor policies; none were present. The chair and Representative Ray asked whether the same policy objectives could be achieved by statute rather than a constitutional amendment; Richardson answered that the change must be made through a constitutional amendment because the exception appears in Article 2, Section 27 of the state constitution.
The committee did not take a vote on the resolution; the item was presented and heard. No departmental representatives were recorded as answering the committee's request for technical detail about current DOC labor programs or disciplinary consequences for inmates who decline work assignments.
Ending
Proponents urged the committee to forward the amendment for eventual voter consideration so that Arkansas' constitution no longer contains language permitting slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for crime. The committee heard the testimony and questions but did not act on the amendment during this meeting.
