Amid scorching summer temperatures, a federal judge has ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of inmate workers working in the fields of a former slave plantation, saying they face “a significant risk of injury or death.” The state immediately appealed the decision.
U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order, giving the Justice Department seven days to present a plan to improve conditions at the so-called Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola. The sprawling prison occupies land that was once a plantation.
Jackson called on the state to correct deficiencies, including inadequate shade and work breaks and failure to provide workers with sunscreen and other basic protection, including medical checks for those especially vulnerable to high temperatures. However, the judge stopped short of completely closing the farm line when heat indexes reached 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius) or higher, as the plaintiffs had requested.
The order comes amid growing national attention to prison labor, a a practice firmly rooted in slavery and has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry over the decades. two-year Associated Press investigation connected some of the world’s largest and best-known companies—from Cargill and Walmart to Burger King—to Angola and other prison farms, where inmates are paid as little as a few cents an hour or nothing at all.
Men imprisoned in Angola filed a class-action lawsuit last year alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor in prison fields. They said they use hoes and shovels or stoop to pick crops by hand in dangerously high temperatures while armed guards watch. If they refuse to work or don’t meet their quotas, they can be sent to solitary confinement or face other punishments, according to disciplinary guidelines.
As temperatures continue to rise across the state, “dealing with the heat in Louisiana has become a matter of life and death,” Jackson wrote in his 78-page ruling. “Conditions on the Farm Line ‘create a substantial risk of injury or death.’”
Lydia Wright of The Promise of Justice Initiative, an attorney for the plaintiffs, applauded the decision.
“The farm line has caused generations of physical and psychological harm,” she told AP, adding that it is the first time a court has ruled the practice cruel and unusual punishment. “It is an incredible moment for prisoners and their families.”
Ken Pastorick, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said the department “strongly disagrees” with the court’s overall ruling and has filed an appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We are still reviewing the ruling in its entirety and reserve the right to comment in more detail at a later date,” he said.
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