By banning involuntary servitude, Proposition 6 could change the landscape of California prisons

For the past four years, Steven Warren has been a cook at one of the dining halls at San Quentin State Prison.

“I would wake up at about three in the morning. And then we would be allowed to go to the kitchen,” he said. There, he’d prepare portions of eggs, biscuits, potatoes and sausage with the other cook. 

“Between me and one other cook we're going to split the work to provide food on the grill for 700 people,” he said. “So you're sitting there grilling for hours at a time.”

After five hours, at 8:30 a.m., he’d be done. He did this five days a week for cents an hour, ending up with about $12 a month. With a recent wage increase for people incarcerated in California prisons, that went up to $20 a month. 

When he wasn’t working, Warren also took college classes and facilitated optional rehabilitative groups helping people develop insight into anger and domestic violence. He wanted to be able to focus on those groups and courses full time, and not have to work. 

And many agree he should be able to make that choice. 

Involuntary servitude is prohibited in California’s Constitution except as punishment for a crime. However, people inside prisons in the state are required to work for nominal sums. 

Proposition 6 on California’s ballot this November would eliminate that “exception” clause in the state’s constitution. But if voters approve it, it’s unclear what the next iteration of labor in prison would look like.

Voluntary work program would be a replacement

Democratic Assembly member Lori Wilson represents Solano county and led the effort to remove the exception clause. 

Her bill, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, was part of a package of legislation from the Black Legislative Caucus, and got Proposition 6 on the ballot. 

Wilson said since work is mandated, and self-help programming is not, the work takes precedence.

“I think about my own little brother who's in prison right now,” she said. “He's in prison for the second time. Imagine if, the first time that he was in prison, he was able to have mental health be a priority for him versus working. He would have been a different man coming out of prison.”

If Proposition 6 passes, a sister bill, Assembly Bill 628, would go into effect and would require the state’s corrections department to set up a voluntary work program.

But how the state gets people to work, through higher wages or more credits that take time off sentences, is still an open question. 

Wilson said it’s one that she’s comfortable addressing later. 

“We can't even have the freedom to imagine what wage looks like in prison with that language in the constitution,” she said. “And so this gives us the freedom to have that conversation.”

But that means there’s no cost estimate. And that makes Democratic Senator Steve Glazer of Contra Costa County uncomfortable.

“What's the unintended consequence of changing the language in the constitution for what would happen in the prisons?” he asked.

Glazer worried taking the language out would open the state up to litigation. That's what happened in Colorado, where forced labor was officially banned, but prisoners still had to work.

But Glazer is supporting the bill because he was assured if no one chooses to work, the state could compel people to do “chores.” Still, he’s wary.

“I still think that it is a gray area until there are actions based on the passage of the measure and any potential litigation conclusion that might come thereafter,” he said.

Proponents say the bill will save money in the long run, allowing prisoners to have more humanity and rehabilitation, which keep people out of prison when they go home. 

Warren said if the mandate is gone, people will still choose to work. There aren’t enough jobs for everyone who wants one. In the kitchen, there’s no shortage of people willing to help out, to get extra food, and have more purpose.

“Somebody wants to do a job, let him do it. OK, cool,” he said. “But if somebody wants to focus on their rehabilitation, how about we do that?”

He said allowing people to have the choice will be truly rehabilitative.

Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.