Plaintiffs Challenge Court’s Relief Denial in Angola Forced Labor Case

BATON ROUGE, La. — Incarcerated plaintiffs have asked a federal district court to reconsider a ruling issued last month that found specific constitutional violations in the Louisiana State Penitentiary’s (Angola) Farm Line, described as “a forced labor scheme requiring incarcerated men, who are predominately Black, to perform dangerous and intentionally degrading labor in the fields of the former plantation in extreme heat,” according to a statement from the Promise of Justice Initiative.

The ruling provides a timeline of the proceedings. Plaintiffs initially filed the lawsuit, VOTE v. LeBlanc, on Sept. 16, 2023, alleging violations of the Thirteenth Amendment. That claim was dismissed.

The remaining claims assert that Angola violated the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and engaged in disability discrimination.

The court highlighted the dangerously extreme heat and granted the plaintiffs’ motion requiring defendants to continue issuing a “Heat Alert” on the Farm Line whenever the heat index meets or exceeds 88 degrees Fahrenheit. The order was dubbed the “Aug. 22 Order.”

On the same day, the court visited Louisiana State Penitentiary “to observe conditions on the Farm Line along with counsel for all parties.”

Yet, “while the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana agreed that Angola subjected incarcerated workers to unconstitutional heat conditions, it declined to order permanent relief to protect them from such conditions,” according to the statement.

Furthermore, the court did not address the plaintiffs’ “broader claims that the Farm Line inflicts profound harm to human dignity as a punitive system deeply rooted in Louisiana’s history of slavery.”

The Farm Line has received scrutiny because of its parallels to the state’s history. The ruling states, “After three years of incarceration, incarcerated persons are eligible to receive pay of 2 to 4 cents per hour for their work on the farm line.”

Meanwhile, “incarcerated men working in other positions at LSP can earn between 25 cents and $1.00 an hour.”

The motion for reconsideration asks the court to amend its ruling, “grant relief required under the law, and address the previously-ignored claims concerning the dignitary harm suffered by men forced to labor on the Farm Line,” according to the statement.

“The court found that Angola forced men to work in unconstitutional and dangerous conditions, but then left them without justice or protection from future harms,” said Samantha Pourciau, senior attorney at the Promise of Justice Initiative.

The Promise of Justice Initiative is dedicated to “Ending Plantation Prisons,” according to its website. A statement beneath the title reads that “slavery never ended in Louisiana…people in prisons, mostly Black, are invisible to the public and are forced to work under oftentimes dangerous, sometimes humiliating conditions at their own physical peril.”

“What is happening on the Farm Line is modern-day slavery, and neither our Constitution nor our collective conscience should tolerate it,” said Pourciau. “If a Court finds unconstitutional conduct it has an obligation to stop it. Our clients deserve more than a recognition that their rights were violated, they deserve relief and accountability.”

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Angola Prison Eighth Amendment Forced Labor Louisiana State Penitentiary Prison COnditions Promise of Justice Initiative