BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Advocacy groups involved in a federal lawsuit over prison labor at Angola held a press conference in Baton Rouge.
The Promise of Justice Initiative and Rights Behind Bars spoke to the media on Thursday, Feb. 5, after court proceedings wrapped up for the day on the steps of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. “This week in court, we presented evidence that the farm line violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment and endangers people in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said Samantha Pourciau, Senior staff attorney for the Promise of Justice Initiative.
The groups discussed the first week of testimony in VOTE v. LeBlanc, a class action lawsuit that challenges the “Farm Line” agricultural labor program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola. The lawsuit argues that the work conditions are dangerous and dehumanizing. “I hurt myself in prison just like as I’m standing here talking to you now, I had a back injury from working in the farm line and my back hurts me right now. So, it wasn’t any it wasn’t a good experience,” said Terrance Winn, a former inmate.
“This trial follows years of investigation, working with formerly incarcerated people to understand their experiences, the issues that so few of us can see or have access to,” Samantha Kennedy, Promise of Justice Initiative executive director, said.
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Many who oppose the farm line argue this practice of tough, unpaid work, is modern day slavery. “Angola’s farmland basically imitates and replicates the conditions that the plantation that was formerly on those grounds used under to enslave people. And the inmates are being forced to cosplay as slaves,” said Cecelia Kappel, Deputy Director of Litigation with the Promise of Justice Initiative. “Angola’s farmland basically imitates and replicates the conditions that the plantation that was formerly on those grounds used under to enslave people. And the inmates are being forced to cosplay as slaves,” Winn said.
Advocates say their main push is to get rid of this method, completely. “This practice is an anachronism. We are an anomaly. This is the only prison in the state that has a farm line and one of the only prisons in the country that continues to have a farmland there,” said Kappel. And those like Winn hope the prison takes a different approach on how punishments are given out at the prison. “I hope that they see the humans who made who committed crimes. We won’t say that their mistakes will just say that crimes were committed. Choices to me that they made people break laws, but they still humans,” he said.
Court proceedings in the case began Feb. 3 and are expected to continue through Feb. 10.
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