Involuntary servitude still exists in California. A ballot measure in November could change that

A correctional officer looks on as a group leaves an exercise yard at the California medical facility in Vacaville. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Government-sanctioned slavery still exists in California. The state is one of 20 where incarcerated people can be forced to work against their will. But if it’s up to the assemblymember Lori Wilson and the state’s legislative Black caucus, that will come to an end in November.

Wilson and the caucus are behind Proposition 6, a proposal on the ballot on 5 November that would abolish forced labor as a criminal punishment in the state’s prisons and prevent inmates who refuse to work from being penalized.