When our journalism class discussed excessive heat in prisons, several men pointed to laws introduced in the state legislature which would require air conditioning in prisons.
“Like they’ll ever be the political will to get that passed,” J commented.
S follows any legislation in the country related to incarceration. He’s particularly interested in how incarcerated people are compensated for their prison jobs. S knows which states paid minimum wage on the inside and which don’t. In the prison where the class was held, the men make pennies an hour.
“There’s a case to be made that it’s a violation of the 13th Amendment,” S said. “It’s involuntary servitude.”
R has a job in the infirmary. He wanted to share a specific story about how one patient had the “s**t beat out of him,” but explained that he couldn’t go into detail, because “that’s a violation of HIPAA laws.”
G has passionate beliefs on the war in Ukraine. He follows every gain and loss of territory, every appropriation of funds.
I’m bringing up these disparate anecdotes to illustrate that the incarcerated men that I taught follow the news, understand the law (of course they all have first-hand experience with the criminal justice system) and are basically informed citizens.
Except they are not citizens, because they are unable to vote.
Roughly 1.5 million people are locked up and disenfranchised. In the United States, only two states - Maine and Vermont - allow incarcerated people to cast ballots. State laws vary about the voting rights of convicted felons who have been released.
As this election season heats up, it’s deeply frustrating to those whose lives may be affected by the outcome, but who have no say in our country’s direction.
I know I frequently sing the praises of The Prison Journalism Project (PJP), but they -along with The Marshall Project - do such great work it’s never enough. Recently they launched a series called “Locked Out,” which will feature the work of incarcerated writers with their thoughts on voting and politics behind bars.
Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:
As we were preparing this series, a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump of felony crimes on 34 counts. His unprecedented conviction did not affect his current presidential bid. Nor will it impede his right to vote for himself in November, since the former president will not be sentenced until after the election.
For many of our contributors, the news landed as a bitter irony. As one put it: “For years I have been out here struggling to find employment and housing because of my felonies. My life before incarceration was hard, but prison took everything from me. … And yet Trump can be convicted of multiple felonies and still run for president? Can someone explain that to me?”