Every morning, tens of thousands of incarcerated individuals in California prisons must work a job they did not necessarily choose. They cook and serve meals. They keep the facilities clean. They collect, wash and distribute laundry.

If prisoners decide to stop reporting to their assigned jobs, or if they attempt to prioritize educational or rehabilitative programs during their mandated work hours, they won’t simply risk losing the job — they face disciplinary infractions. For lifers, a writeup documenting refusal to work spells almost certain doom toward hopes of parole.

“If you don’t go to work, we’re gonna punish you – and they do,” said J Vasquez, a former prisoner who is now an activist with Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice. “I remember the first time I saw a man cry, like he broke down because he had just lost his mother. And he was still forced to go to work under threat of punishment. It’s like the guy can’t even take a day off or a couple of days to grieve.

“These are the type of things that really undermine people’s healing, undermine rehabilitation — and really, it doesn’t make much sense, right?”

California voters are now deciding whether to ban those compulsory assignments for people in jail or in prison. Proposition 6 would change the state constitution to repeal a provision that has allowed forced labor as a form of criminal punishment since the state’s founding.

California lawmakers placed the measure on the ballot with nearly unanimous votes, and passionate activists are campaigning for the initiative around the state.

But it’s far from certain that the measure will become law. Limited polling on the initiative shows likely voters are leaning against it.

“It’s an early first read,” said Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California, which released a poll last month that showed 50% of likely voters opposing Prop. 6. “I wouldn’t say it’s losing. In the field right now before the election, that’s where it gets interesting.”

No one organized a campaign to oppose Prop. 6, and yet the measure appeared to face an uphill climb as mail-in voting began this month.

“It’s scary and frustrating,” said Vasquez. “It’s scary, because you don’t get many shots to run a ballot measure.”

Low-budget campaign for Prop. 6

Now, supporters are organizing phone banks and speaking of their lived experience whenever they can. It’s a low-budget effort, with supporters raising about $1.1 million for the measure.

“Once we message this, people begin to understand what we’re talking about,” said Matt Reilly, Prop. 6’s lead political strategist. “We have terrific grassroots organization in various L.A. communities. We want people affected by this to be the voice for our campaign.”

Prop. 6 landed on the ballot after a similar proposal failed in 2022. The state Finance Department at the time estimated it would cost $1.5 billion because the state might have to pay inmates more money for their work. Today, most of them earn less than 74 cents an hour.

This year, supporters of the proposal adjusted it to continue voluntary work assignments with pay determined by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Several other states, including Colorado, Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont, recently have banned forced labor in prisons. Some activists characterize the campaigns as efforts to wipe out a legacy of slavery; and California’s measure moved forward after the state’s Reparations Task Force drew attention to the harmful effects of discriminatory policies against African Americans.

Prop. 6 supporters say the measure would compel state prisons to prioritize rehabilitative programming rather than busywork that does not necessarily help an inmate prepare for life after incarceration.

“When a person has access to rehabilitation, we’re all safer. Right now, we spend $14 billion per year on prisons, with a failure rate of 70% in terms of recidivism. When we talk at a high level about these facts, we win people over,” said Jay Jordan, founder of the advocacy group Center for Social Good.

California’s total corrections budget is expected to top $18 billion this year, with $14 billion coming from the state general fund. About 42% of prisoners released in 2019 were convicted of new crimes within three years, according to the state’s most recent report on recidivism.

Is Prop. 36 influencing polling on forced labor?

Democratic Assemblymember Lori Wilson of Suisun City, who sponsored the bill that placed Prop. 6 on the ballot, said the measure could be lagging because of broad support for another criminal justice initiative on the November ballot, Proposition 36.

Polls show voters favor Prop. 36 by wide margins. It would lengthen criminal sentences for certain drug and theft charges, and it would steer some people convicted of multiple offenses to treatment instead of incarceration.

“Prop. 36 is messing with the numbers out there,” Wilson said, arguing that support for the better-publicized Prop. 36 could be influencing voters’ first impressions of Prop. 6.

The measure to ban forced labor in prisons does not have a big warchest for advertising, but a number of large public employees unions and Democratic Party leaders have endorsed it.

Wilson said winning over undecided voters is an “easy conversation” when supporters get an opening to talk with someone.

“Rehabilitation lines up with our goals. We’re saying we want them to be rehabilitated, but if we continue forcing them to work, then we’re not making it the priority,” she said.

“I’ve never seen a judge – when sentencing a person to prison – they never sentence them to work. This is part of that original sin of slavery when slaves were brought to our state and worked alongside prisoners,” she continued.

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Joe Garcia is a California Local News fellow.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.