Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Incarcerated Workers in Alabama File Lawsuit to End Involuntary Servitude
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
10 May 2024
🖨️ Print Article

Black Agenda Radio · Incarcerated Workers in Alabama File Lawsuit to End Involuntary Servitude

Six incarcerated people in the state of Alabama have filed a lawsuit against their governor and the Commissioner of Corrections. Alabama’s prison system is the most overcrowded in the country, where Black people make up 26 percent of the population, but 53 percent of the prison population. Following a successful labor strike by incarcerated workers, Alabama voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that expanded the ban on slavery and involuntary servitude to prison. With their state court lawsuit, the plaintiffs seek enforcement of the amendment. Jessica Vosburgh is a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights which represents the plaintiffs. She joins us from Birmingham, Alabama.

Prison Labor
Alabama prison strike
Center for Constitutional Rights

Related Podcasts

Involuntary servitude is slavery
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Ending Prison Slavery in California
14 June 2024
Dorsey Nunn recently retired as Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (
Black Agenda Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio May 10, 2024
10 May 2024
In this week’s program we discuss a lawsuit filed by incarcerated people in Alabama, asking the state to end involuntary servitude, and also a conv
Black Agenda Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio February 2, 2024
02 February 2024
In this week's segment we hear about abolishing slavery that exists in the incarceration system, and also the second part of our interview on

More Stories


  • x
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 14, 2026
    14 Aug 2026
    In this week’s segment we discuss how the U.S. controls other nations in the hemisphere such as Guyana, which become de facto US colonies and assist in imposing imperial policies in the region. But…
  • x
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Guyana and the Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism
    14 Aug 2026
    Gerald Perreira is chairperson of the Organization for the Victory of the People in Guyana. He discusses the America’s Counter-Cartel Coalition (ACCC) known as Shield of the Americas, the latest…
  • El Sayed Harris
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    El-Sayed Is the Arab Obama
    11 Aug 2026
    The Democratic Party will recalibrate its messaging after its well-funded senate candidate in a Michigan primary lost to Abdul El-Sayed, who by his own admission is a capitalist, not a socialist, and…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    DOCUMENT: Declaration of the Rights of Caribbean Peoples to Self-Determination and Self-Government, West Indies National Emergency Committee, 1940.
    11 Aug 2026
    “Conflicts over colonies constitute the major source of war in the modern world.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Saudi Arabia Forms a 14-State Coalition to Stop Ansar Allah
    11 Aug 2026
    Saudi Arabia has formed a 14-state coalition to stop Ansar Allah, which has threatened to blockade its oil tankers in the Red Sea.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us