“There Is No Excused Absence in Prison”

In fall 2023, Dylan O’Donoghue, a PhD candidate at Rutgers University–Camden, conducted an interview with Dr. Tanisha Cannon, managing director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC). Based in California, LSPC is dedicated to enhancing the lives of those affected by the criminal justice system and is actively campaigning for a state constitutional amendment to abolish slavery in prisons. Integral to LSPC is All of Us or None (AOUON), the grassroots organizing component of the organization. AOUON aims to amplify the voices of individuals most impacted by mass incarceration and the expansive prison-industrial complex, cultivating a robust political movement to secure the full restoration of their human and civil rights.

The US banned slavery under the 13th Amendment; however, many states, including California, have added an exception to the clause in their state constitution to allow involuntary servitude to be used as punishment for a crime. Today, organizers in California, including LSPC, are working to pass a state constitutional amendment that would change this practice. The End Slavery in California Act (ACA‑8), would amend the constitution to prohibit any form of slavery, including slavery during incarceration. If it passes the California Senate and Assembly this year, ACA‑8 will be placed on the ballot as a referendum in November. To garner global attention for upcoming decisions on ACA‑8, Tanisha and Dylan used this interview as the foundation for a report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.

About 93,400 individuals are currently incarcerated in California state prisons, and facilities often run over capacity (Petek 2023). The asymmetrical suffering of Black and Latinx populations in prisons stems from policies rooted in the criminalization of race and systemic poverty (Gilmore 2007). As a result, disenfranchised populations, who are often geographically concentrated within cities, are sent into cycles of incarceration which create extreme challenges for communities. In urban centers like Los Angeles, the dislocation of incarcerated individuals to distant prisons such as Pelican Bay State Prison—located roughly 12 hours north by car—illustrates a stark aspect of urban to rural displacement. By routinely relocating residents to facilities far from their home cities, the state disrupts community ties and extracts vital human resources from urban areas. The impact extends beyond the immediate hardship faced by the incarcerated; it places undue emotional, financial, and temporal burdens on their families, who must travel long distances for visitations, support families at home alone, and give funds for commissary purchases. This displacement not only isolates the incarcerated but also weakens the support networks that are crucial for their rehabilitation and eventual reintegration, exacerbating the challenges urban communities face in achieving justice and maintaining social cohesion and safety. Framing prison labor within the context of urban displacement offers an additional political perspective on anti-trafficking and criminal justice reform work: a perspective that underscores the importance of city-based strategies in combating mass incarceration.

This interview starts with Dylan asking Tanisha to describe labor in prisons.

Dylan O’Donoghue: What is typical work for someone who is incarcerated?

Tanisha Cannon: The number-one beneficiary of prison labor is the prisons. Most jobs are helping the prison run; it’s laundry services, cooks, electricians, and cleaning. One of my coworkers did professional development for correctional officers while incarcerated.

The second beneficiaries are the state, local, and federal governments. For example, license plates, state university furniture, and American flags are often made inside prisons.

The third beneficiary is private industries—to name a few, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, or you may call T‑Mobile and be on the phone with someone who is in prison.

My little brother went into an adult prison at the age of 17, and he was forced to fight California wildfires. He now has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which likely came from the conditions in prison or during firefighting. Sometimes they would have to sleep in foil bags because fire might come across them at night. They would work with hoes, knocking down weeds for 10 to 12 hours a day in crazy conditions.

There are also ethical concerns. Prisoners are often exposed to hazardous conditions, like using acid-based detergents without proper safety gear. Other projects include building bombs for defense contractors (MacLeod 2023). This risks their health and forces them into work that may deeply conflict with their morals. These examples highlight a need for reform in how prison labor is managed and utilized.

Dylan: What happens when you can’t go to work?

Tanisha: There is no excused absence in prison; to request this is extremely complicated. My grandma passed away while my brother was in prison. He got that call that she died around 2 a.m. He couldn’t go back to sleep but had to work at 6 a.m. It’s like, “Not only am I tired, but I’m also grieving, and I just don’t feel like fucking working.” When you don’t work, one of the rights that you lose is phone calls. Since he didn’t go to work when my grandma died, he couldn’t call my dad to see if he was OK. Other times, you lose visitation, so now family can’t visit, or you lose good behavior time.

Those are some of the things that are taken away from you. You’re losing the rights to your canteen to buy daily essentials, so now you can’t get toothpaste. Not to mention that when you go to work, you must look presentable, so if you can’t afford toothpaste, you also get in trouble for being unpresentable.

Dylan: Prison labor is often left out of anti-trafficking discussions, despite the similarities. What do you make of this?

Tanisha: Prison labor is human trafficking; individuals are forcibly ripped from the heart of their communities, taken away to distant, unfamiliar environments, then forced and coerced into mandatory labor.

Dylan: According to some state constitutions, prison labor is slavery. LSPC is advocating for the passage of an amendment in California to bring California’s constitution into line with constitutions that define prison labor as involuntary servitude. What is the impact if it passes?

Tanisha: This is a long battle because it’s a constitutional amendment. We’re fighting to allow the people to vote on the decision to officially eradicate slavery. There’s work to do after that. That’s why we’re simultaneously working on the wage bill, occupational licensing, and education inside of prison. But first, the state must acknowledge that you can’t use the folx inside as slaves.

Dylan: What has been the state’s response to the proposed amendment?

Tanisha: We tried to push for this amendment before, and in 2020 the Judiciary Committee opposed it, saying that paying prisoners minimum wage would cost 1.5 billion US dollars. But the amendment isn’t about money—we’re not talking about wages; we’re saying, don’t force people to work. They keep connecting it back to wages. They are just using the same argument from the Civil War—it will cost too much to let the slaves go. How is that an argument? Of course it will cost more! This just perpetuates the historical discrimination that we have in our nation.

Dylan: Imagining pathways forward, how can funding push forward the fight to eradicate forced labor in prisons?

Tanisha: Funding for public education and advocacy to raise awareness about the conditions in prison is essential. We can also give that money back to folx doing this work inside. They should be paid a living wage for their work; that will take away that desperation when they get out, and set them up on a pathway to success that will decrease recidivism.

Dylan: What does your organization consider when you’re accepting funding?

Tanisha: We are choosy with who we take funding from. We don’t take funding from the state, correction facilities, or probation offices. The deliverables they require are ultra-focused on numbers, and we don’t always know their intentions. To fulfill their deliverables, you just end up pushing papers instead of being out in the field and doing the work of building a relationship with people.

Our 501(c)(3) board has decided to limit government funding to a maximum of 20% to ensure the independence and integrity of our operations. Our biggest government funding comes from the State Bar to do litigation work in support of people who provide legal services to the indigent, and some of that litigation work included stopping pregnant women from being shackled (Davis et al. 2017). For that work, we sued the California Department of Corrections and rehabilitation (CDCr). [1] We can’t get grant money from CDCr, then say, “Oh, actually, by the way, see you in court next Wednesday.” Much of our work pushes against these systems, so we can’t take the money from them.

Many entities don’t understand what that looks like or how it looks for incarcerated folx and their families. We need room to do the work how we want to do it. The people closest to the problem are also closest to the solution.

In the past, California has failed to pass legislation removing the slavery exception from the state constitution. Legislators justify this by saying that it would be too costly for the state to remove this clause. This argument underscores how the state values the benefits from prison labor over the lives and the rehabilitation of the incarcerated, who, in comparison to the state population, are disproportionately Black and Latinx. In California, prison labor not only makes the prisons run but also generates revenue (as when prisoners work on contract for private companies) or reduces the state’s fiscal burden (as when prisoners fight wildfires). Whereas doing time in prison is often framed as rehabilitation, LSPC’s work shows that the experience is just the opposite, with incarcerated workers frequently experiencing physical and emotional harm through forced labor. Ending forced labor is essential for promoting rehabilitation, combating recidivism, supporting families, and furthering racial and social justice.

Advocacy for ACA‑8 is the first step towards ending the practice of forced labor in California prisons. AOUON has 30 chapters in the nation working on an initiative to Abolish Bondage Collectively (ABC). In 2022, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont joined other states that had recently passed state constitution amendments prohibiting both slavery and involuntary servitude (Nebraska and Utah in 2020; Colorado in 2018). In 2020, US Senator Jeff Merkley (Oregon) introduced a resolution to remove involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime from the US Constitution.

The momentum continues to build, and California has made a pivotal move. On June 27, 2024, the state senate passed the amendment, paving the way for its placement on the November ballot as Proposition 6. This represents a historic opportunity for voters in California to stand against the remnants of slavery and support a crucial transformation in the justice system. As organizers at LSPC celebrate this achievement, they also recognize the need for continued support to ensure the success of Proposition 6. It is a chance to continue the work of our ancestors to eradicate slavery in all its forms from our state, and is a critical moment for mobilizing voters, especially the youth and those who typically abstain from voting. LSPC’s efforts will now focus on establishing a ballot committee within the All of Us or None Action Network to spearhead a robust campaign leading up to the election.

Bibliography

• Davis, H., Strickman, C. and Yarmosky, A. 2017. No More Shackles II. A follow-up report on California counties’ written policies under the 2012 law limiting restraint of pregnant prisoners, report for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, August. Available online at the following URL: www.prisonerswithchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/No-More-Shackles-II-report.pdf.
• Gilmore, R. W. 2007. Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (Vol. 21), Berkeley: University of California Press.
• MacLeod, A. 2022. “1 in 3 Big Defense Contractors Profit from US Prisoner Suffering”, MintPress. Available online at the following URL: www.mintpressnews.com/1-3-big-defense-contractors-profit-us-prisoner-suffering/279648.
• Petek, G. 2023. The 2023–24 Budget: The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, report for the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the California Legislature’s Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor, 16 February. Available online at the following URL: https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4686.