Sacramento, CA – Few realize that the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution did not completely end slavery and involuntary servitude—it left open the exception for those convicted of a criminal offense.
This led to what Douglas Blackmon, in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Slavery by Another Name, called the convict labor system, which looked a lot like chattel slavery.
Because of laws like this, supporters of Prop 6 charge that prison officials have prioritized work over rehabilitation programs.
Proponents argue Prop 6 “allows incarcerated individuals to become more productive members of our communities by accessing education, vocational training, and counseling, which have proven effective in reducing recidivism.”
Formerly incarcerated Estaban Nunez, who was involved in a high profile case when his father was speaker of the Assembly in California, explained in a Zoom interview with the Vanguard that the whole thing is “counterintuitive.”
He said, “The whole point of going into prison is to be held accountable.”
For him, being in prison, it really dawned on him “the impacts that my actions had, not only directly to my victims, but also to the community as a whole.”
He said, “But it was me really doing the work and taking accountability to come to that understanding and then doing the work to change and understand what my triggers were and how my behavior patterns needed to change and how I needed to be more empathetic.”
But that recognition didn’t happen with forced labor.
He said, “It wasn’t forced labor that brought me to those understandings. It was the rehabilitative programming. It was doing the introspective work.”
The problem for Nunez, and countless others, is “oftentimes people are unable to participate in those programs because it conflicts with their work schedule. And then if you’re not working, you don’t have access to those programs because you’re not abiding by the statute, which says every faithful body needs or every able body needs to perform faithful labor.”
He said that “it’s just this weird conundrum of where you’re not prioritizing rehabilitation for folks and therefore you’re not able to really help people change.”
The point of prison, he explained, should be “to stop the cycle, not necessarily to just punish, punish, punish and create more traumas for individuals.”
As the saying goes, “hurt people, hurt people and healed people, heal people.”
Supporters of Prop 6 argue that the proposition prioritizes rehabilitation by allowing incarcerated individuals to choose voluntary work programs that accommodate their participation in educational programs like GED and college courses, vocational training, and counseling services like AA and NA.
For Nunez then, Prop 6 “really shifts the system away from this forced labor, modern day slavery attitude towards one that allows people to really focus on rehabilitation.”
J Vasquez was 16 years old when he was sentenced to 31 years to life. Over the next 25 years, he worked about every prison job there is. When he decided to turn his life around and tried to attend a victim impact class, he wasn’t allowed to because the class was during work hours.
Vasquez told the Vanguard that he was able to come home six years ago, but that was never a foregone conclusion.
“I was a juvenile lifer, prison guard said, Hey, youngster. He said, do yourself a favor and hang yourself. You’re never getting out of here,” he explained saying that he remembers that moment as though it happened yesterday. “Even though I was still a teenager at the time (it) had a really big impact on me.”
Vasquez explained that he began to change when he began to heal.
He said, “When I say healing, I mean learning why I started having these beliefs as a child, why I got involved in a street gang, why I had all this trauma. I didn’t know I had trauma. So just working on myself through a lot of just rehabilitation programs.
“I took so many programs inside there and facilitated programs and I know how much that has helped me not just get out of prison, the parole board, but (not just) stay out (but) be a really a good asset in my community.”
He described a victim impact class that came into the prison he was staying at.
“It was a powerful class that came in,” he said. “They brought in crime survivors to speak to incarcerated people. And I had heard from other people how life-changing that program was. And I really wanted to gain insight into the harm that I caused and I wanted to attend that class.”
The problem: it was during his work hours.
He even went to his supervisor and asked, “Hey, could I go attend this victim impact class? I was already done doing my work.”
The reaction was, even if he’s done with his work, “you can’t go. It’s your work hours.”
He ended up taking that class several years later.
“It was profoundly life-changing for me. It definitely contributed to my healing journey,” he said.
He said, “College is another example on the inside there, anger management. There was multiple times when I wanted to work on myself and it conflicted my work hours and I wasn’t able to do that. And it really stunted my journey.”
He added, “I feel that had I been able to take that class and other programs instead of being forced to work, that I really would have been able to come home sooner.”
The measure is not a partisan bill and ended up being put on the ballot by both Republicans and Democrats.
Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-80) stated, “I support Proposition 6 because it focuses on creating a fairer and more effective prison system by emphasizing rehabilitation over forced labor. This approach not only helps reduce recidivism by providing individuals with the tools and opportunities they need to reintegrate into society but also strengthens communities and saves taxpayer money.
“By prioritizing second chances and personal development, Proposition 6 promotes a justice system that is both economically responsible and aligned with the values of rehabilitation and reintegration.”
Meanwhile, Republican Marie Waldron is also a supporter, stating, “Proposition 6 is not a partisan issue—it’s about fairness, justice, and aligning our values with the progress we’ve seen across the country. States like Alabama and Tennessee have already taken steps to remove slavery and forced labor from their constitutions with overwhelming voter support. California should be no different.
“This initiative has strong bipartisan momentum, and it’s time we join other states in doing what’s right. Proposition 6 will help us put an end to an outdated practice that no longer reflects who we are as a state, while also promoting rehabilitation and public safety. This is an issue we can all come together on.”
Voters in seven other states have recently decided on ballot measures to repeal similar language from their state constitutions that allowed for enslavement or servitude. This includes measures that passed in 2022 with 76% support in Alabama, 79% in Tennessee, and 81% in Vermont.
Estaban Nunez remarked that “it’s crazy that we’ve seen states like Tennessee and Alabama pass it by over 75% and other red states, maybe because they’re a little more in belief that modern day slavery existed in their states.”
Still, a lot of voters do not recognize that this is even an issue.
J Vasquez noted this actually goes back prior to the 13th Amendment.
“Article one, Section six in the California constitution,” he said. “California had in its first constitution 1849. And it was really designed in a way … to perpetuate forced labor for people that are convicted of a crime.”
He added that “even though California, the prison system, it doesn’t exactly resemble chattel slavery. It’s still forced labor.”
