A bill is before the Arkansas legislature that would require inmates who have to work while serving prison sentences be paid for their labor.
Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, is the lead sponsor of the bill. She hopes instituting a pay scale for prison work programs will decrease extraordinarily high rates of recidivism. Money inmates earn would be available to them for supplies while in prison and after they are released to ease their transition back into society.
Kurt Muhammad is a former Cummins Unit inmate and recalled during a press conference Wednesday the image of guards on horses with rifles standing watch over he and other inmates as they harvested cotton fields. Muhammad says not only was the work hard, but he had to bear harsh weather conditions with freezing temperatures in the winter and 100-plus degree summers. He said there was no real choice whether or not to work.
"Everything inside the Arkansas Department of Correction when it comes to stability or maintaining a livelihood cost money. And you just don’t have it. They tell you that work is voluntary, but as soon as you tell them you not going to work they lock you down," Muhammad said.
Rep. Flowers believes it’s an issue of human rights.
"In our U.S. constitution, as well as in our state constitution, we make exceptions for slavery and indentured servitude, and that is not who we are as a country, that’s not who we are as Arkansans. And that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a system to ensure that people who violate the law are punished," Flowers said.
Sen. Joyce Elliot, D-Little Rock, is the senate sponsor for the resolution. She said instances of unpaid compulsory labor are so normalized they often aren’t noticed despite their proximity.
"Here are people in prison doing this work every day. We see them even working around this Capital. You wanna know why our Capital grounds look so good? Many times it’s because of free labor."
Elliot expects some lawmakers will oppose the resolution. She anticipates they would see the amendment as an incentive instead of punishment for criminals. Elliot said the process is about rehabilitation as well as punishment.
Solomon Graves, public information officer for the Arkansas Department of Correction, did not return an email seeking comment.
Arkansas and Alabama are the only two states that make prisoners work without pay.