http://news.yahoo.com/man-forced-prison-sues-under-anti-slavery-amendment-185542960--abc-news-topstories.html

Seems to me like he has a legitimate claim and the appellate court got this right. There's a clear distinction between jail and prison. If you haven't been convicted of anything and are only being held to ensure that you will be present for trial it shouldn't be legal to force a person to provide unpaid or minimally paid labor ($.25/hour in this case).

Quote :

"McGarry's anti-slavery case was thrown out in November 2009 by a federal court in Brattleboro, Vt. In his opinion, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Conroy wrote that McGarry's 13th Amendment claim was without merit because his laundry work "was nothing like the slavery that gave rise to the enactment of that amendment.""

What kind of asinine ruling is that anyway? You weren't being forced to pick cotton in the sun, so it isn't really forced labor.

Quote :

" But on Friday, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overruled the lower court's dismissal of the case, arguing that McGarry did not have to prove that his experience was akin those of African slaves before abolition. "Contrary to the district court's conclusion, it is well-settled that the term 'involuntary servitude' is not limited to chattel slavery-like conditions," appellate judge Barrington Parker wrote in the court's opinion. "The amendment was intended to prohibit all forms of involuntary labor, not solely to abolish chattel slavery." "

That's more like it.

I'm betting he wins this, and he should. Given our continuing slide into a police state this is an important case.

8/11/2012 8:21:23 AM

seems reasonable.

i think the more difficult question would be if forced labor could be used as part of a sentence. I hear that's big in other nations like Japan. It seems this verdict implies that it can be, or at least that our anti-slavery laws don't prohibit it. I'm fairly split myself, but I think that if labor is used, it needs to be a part of a valid rehabilitation program to let inmates lead a normal life after their time is served.

8/12/2012 7:15:28 PM

I think work is a positive thing for people in jail. If there were some way to make it possible for convicted felons to get any sort of job, that would go a long way towards rehabilitating. I'm not sure how well it would work for everyone, but it would work for some.

But yeah, the appellate court got that one right. This probably wont ever see the supreme court

8/12/2012 8:06:18 PM