Amid blistering summer temperatures, a federal judge ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation, saying they face “substantial risk of injury or death.” The state immediately appealed the decision.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, giving the state department of corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions on the so-called farm line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola.

  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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    3 months ago

    incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation

    I’m pretty sure the word “former” has no business being in that sentence.

    • worldwidewave@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Seriously

      Last year, several men incarcerated at Angola along with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) filed a class-action lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor in the fields of the maximum security prison, once a former slave plantation that spans some 18,000 acres. The men, most of whom are Black, said they use hoes and shovels or stoop to pick crops by hand in dangerously hot temperatures as armed guards look on. If they refuse to work or fail to meet quotas, they can be sent to solitary confinement or face other punishment, according to disciplinary guidelines.