Sponsors (55)
The bill strengthens protections against involuntary servitude for incarcerated people while preserving voluntary and community-service sentencing options, but may raise costs and legal uncertainty for states and taxpayers as prison work programs and contracts are adjusted.
Incarcerated people (including those with disabilities) would be explicitly protected from being subjected to slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishment.
Defendants and courts retain community service as a sentencing alternative, preserving noncustodial options that can reduce incarceration and associated harms.
Incarcerated people who opt in would continue to have access to voluntary prison work programs that can provide job skills and more stable reentry outcomes when run well.
Taxpayers and state governments may face increased costs to create, oversee, and fund compliant alternatives to forced labor and to ensure voluntary programs meet consent and employment standards.
State governments and correctional agencies could face legal challenges and transitional uncertainty while courts and agencies interpret changes to the Thirteenth Amendment exception.
State governments and taxpayers could lose access to low-cost prison labor that currently subsidizes certain services if stricter consent or employment-protection standards limit existing programs.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Expresses that the 13th Amendment's criminal‑punishment exception has allowed involuntary servitude, affirms sentencing without slavery, and protects voluntary prison work and community service.
Official title: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to prohibit the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime.
Introduced September 15, 2026 by Nikema Williams · Last progress September 15, 2026
Declares that the Thirteenth Amendment’s exception permitting slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime has enabled continued forced labor practices since 1865 and disproportionately affected Black Americans. Affirms that criminal punishment and sentencing can be accomplished without slavery or involuntary servitude, while recognizing and protecting voluntary, high‑quality prison work programs and courts' ability to offer community service alternatives.