Our Legislation
We support passage of the 13th Forward package of bills consisting of…
Prison Wage Act,S439B (Myrie) / A3596B (Gibbs).
Guarantees that incarcerated workers are paid an hourly wage that is at least half the state minimum wage.
Commissary Bill, S1692 (Ramos) / A2592 (People-Stokes)
Places a cap on commissary prices, allowing only a 3% increase over cost for items, and requiring other cost cutting measures to keep commissary prices from offsetting any wage increases for workers.
No Slavery in NY Act S7282 (Myrie) / A7873 (Meeks)
Amends the New York Civil Rights Law to make clear that all forms of slavery, forced labor, and involuntary servitude are prohibited in the state, and amend the Correction Law to expressly prohibit the use of force, threats of force, and any other threats of punishment as means to compel the labor of incarcerated people.
Fairness & Opportunity for Incarcerated Workers Act, S1208 (Myrie)
Establishes a New York State prison labor board to ensure that all labor programs comply with the requirements of New York labor law and that work opportunities on the inside lead to real opportunities post-release; and eliminates the preferred vendor status of Corcraft, the “industry” run by NY Dept of Corrections.
NEW YORK LAGS BEHIND
Since 2018, eight states – Colorado, Nebraska, Utah, Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Nevada - have voted to amend their state laws to make the use of slavery and forced labor in prisons illegal. It is far past time that New York recognize an unqualified, formal prohibition on slavery in state law.
