Colorado Amendment A (2018)
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Colorado Amendment A was a 2018 referendum to amend Article II, Section 26 of the
Constitution of Colorado The Constitution of the State of Colorado is the foundation of the laws and government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The Colorado State Constitution was drafted on March 14, 1876; approved by Colorado voters on July 1, 1876; and took effect u ...
to remove language permitting slavery and involuntary servitude only as punishment for crime.


Summary

Article II, Section 26 of the Constitution of Colorado previously stated:
"There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
An organization to remove the language, Abolish Slavery Colorado, collected signatures to put the question on the ballot in 2016 as Colorado Amendment T, but it failed by less than 1%. Advocates of the initiative blamed the wording of the question, which stated:
"Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning the removal of the exception to the prohibition of slavery and involuntary servitude when used as punishment for persons duly convicted of a crime?"
In 2018, the question was changed for clarity and put before voters, requiring a 55% affirmative vote to pass. The question was:
"Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution that prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime and thereby prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude in all circumstances?"
The 2018 question was passed by 66.23% of voters on November 6. As a result, Article II, Section 26 of the Colorado Constitution now simply reads:
"There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude."


Impact

A lawsuit was filed in July 2020 by three inmates and one former inmates against Gov.
Jared Polis Jared Schutz Polis ( ; ; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 2001 to 2007, and five terms as the Unite ...
, the
Colorado Department of Corrections The Colorado Department of Corrections is the principal department of the Colorado state government that operates the state prisons. It has its headquarters in the Springs Office Park in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorad ...
and a private prison operator under Amendment A to increase wages for penal labor from USD$0.10 an hour, which the inmates described as "slave wages", to the current Colorado minimum wage (USD$12 an hour as of 2020), in addition to paid sick leave and vacation time. This is considered the first lawsuit under the amendment to seek reform of the penal labor practices in the Colorado corrections system.


See also

* ''
13th (film) ''13th'' is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay. It explores the prison–industrial complex, and the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States".
'' *
Slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865 ...
*
Penal labor in the United States Penal labor in the United States is the practice of using incarcerated individuals to perform various types of work, either for government-run or private industries. Inmates typically engage in tasks such as manufacturing goods, providing servic ...
*
Convict leasing Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally abolished during the 20th century. Under this system, private individuals and corporations could lease la ...
* Repeal of exceptions to slavery and involuntary servitude


References

{{reflist 2018 Colorado ballot measures Abolitionism in the United States Constitution of Colorado History of slavery in Colorado Criminal penalty ballot measures in the United States U.S. state constitutional amendments