California and Nevada Voters to Decide on Banning Forced Prison Labor

Voters in California and Nevada will decide on Nov. 5 whether to remove provisions in their state constitutions that allow prisons to use forced labor to punish crimes.
Proposition 6 will repeal the provision in California’s constitution that allows state prisons to force inmates to work and ban the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from taking disciplinary action against inmates who refuse to work.
State prisons will instead prioritize rehabilitation programs for inmates. No formal opposition to the amendment has been submitted so far, the state’s voters’ guide states.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) said the fiscal effect of Proposition 6 on state and local criminal justice costs depends on how rules around labor for incarcerated persons in state and county prisons change….