“How many of you knew that slavery existed still in the United States?” said Chauntyll Allen, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities. Allen spoke this week at a panel titled “It’s Time to End Slavery in Minnesota, ” at the Minnesota Justice Research Center’s Re-Imagining Justice Conference.
What Allen was pointing out was the result of a constitutional exception – one found in both the U.S. Constitution, as well as Minnesota’s own state Constitution. In the U.S. Constitution, the 13th Amendment reads that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” In Minnesota’s Constitution, Section 2 of the Bill of Rights states that “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.”’
This wording, according to panelists, allows the state and federal governments to exploit the labor of those who are incarcerated. While there have been some states, including Alabama and Tennessee, that have removed this wording from their state constitutions, the Marshall Project reports that in Alabama, this amendment has not led to changes in conditions for people who are incarcerated. During the 2024 election in California, Proposition 6, a measure which would have removed involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime from that state’s constitution, made it to the ballot but did not pass.
Aaron Ernst, himself formerly incarcerated, spoke during the panel about his experiences and those of others who were incarcerated. Ernst said that he had heard stories of people earning 25 cents an hour, with deductions made by the Department of Corrections (DOC) to pay for the cost of confinement, fines, or to go toward the gate money given to people upon their release from incarceration. The DOC, in addition to being discussed at the panel, was one of the sponsors for the ReImagining Justice Conference.
“You’re working eight hours a day or six hours a day, and it’s amounted to like $8 a week and $12 a paycheck,” said Ernst of prison labor. “You can’t buy anything that you need, but yet you have to buy everything that you need. Hygiene, toothpaste and all that stuff you have to purchase from the DOC. So they pay you only to take the money back.” Ernst also mentioned that the DOC takes a cut of money sent in by families to incarcerated relatives. According to DOC policy, money sent to those incarcerated is subject to a cost of confinement surcharge of 10%, and, if needed, a surcharge for restitution, also 10%.
Ernst’s experience working with the Shoreview Parks and Recreation Department while at Minnesota Correctional Facility — Lino Lakes was one where he found himself doing the same work as a parks department employee — shoveling or cutting down trees — while earning $1.25 an hour compared to the $34 an hour that they earned for the same work.
“The whole time I’m there, I’m doing the same job as (that employee). But then when I was released, I can’t get hired at Shoreview Parks and Rec because I don’t qualify because of my background,” Ernst said. “Yesterday, you could take my labor, you could use me for labor, you could enslave me and basically profit off of me.”
Information from the Minnesota DOC indicates that the pay for work of those incarcerated in the state ranges from 25 cents an hour to $2 an hour. Pay ranges are determined based on positive evaluations of work, along with limited “out time.” Looking specifically at MINNCOR workers – those working for the DOC’s MINNCOR Industries – only up to 20% of MINNCOR’s workforce are able to earn the pre-advanced pay range of $1.25 to $1.50 an hour, while only up to 10% of the MINNCOR workforce can earn at the advance pay range of $1.75 to $2 an hour. Most non-MINNCOR workers begin their pay scale at 25 cents an hour.
What panelists said they are looking for is not an end to labor for people who are incarcerated, but for fair compensation and recognition of those who are working while incarcerated as workers. A bill advocated for by the End Slavery in Minnesota campaign, which all the panelists are involved in, would classify those imprisoned as workers with the right to employment.
“We want people to work. We want people to gain skills. We just don’t want them to be paid 25 cents an hour or 50 cents an hour – inadequately, I should say – while doing it,” Allen said. “We hope that this movement will move towards everyone having a job at an adequate minimum wage so that they can provide the resources they need for their families, and that they can put those dollars aside so when they leave, they have something to stand on.”
Added Ernst: “Honestly, you should be having things like mandatory work release so that guys have a chance and an opportunity to start paying your bills.”
“If I was able to pay some child support, it changes the dynamic of my family on the street. It can literally raise a child out of poverty by having another contributing person in the household. We want restoration in our communities. We want to build our communities. And it starts with things like that. If I was able to stack some money and put together a nest egg, my chances of success when I get out are so much better.”
Deanna Pistono
Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.
