Prop 6 Ending Involuntary Servitude
Proposition 6 would amend the State Constitution to eliminate all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude within California, ensuring no person is subjected to such inhumane conditions regardless of their confinement circumstances. Currently, incarcerated people are forced to labor even if they’d rather participate in rehabilitation programming such as victim impact, anger management, or drug treatment. 95 percent of people in prison will eventually return to the free community. Proposition 6 would prioritize rehabilitation over exploitation and increase opportunities for incarcerated people to work on themselves, which would lead to safer communities for us all. Ending slavery in California is a human dignity, racial equity, and public safety issue that is long overdue.
Prop 6 Makes Our Communities Safer and Reduces Wasteful Taxpayer Spending ✓ Prop 6 prioritizes rehabilitation for incarcerated people. Incarcerated people should be able to work jobs and shifts that enable them to access education, counseling, and other rehabilitative programs, like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, that facilitate growth and make them less likely to reoffend upon their release.
✓ Proposition 6 enhances public safety and reduces recidivism by prioritizing rehabilitation, leading to significant cost savings for taxpayers. California taxpayers pay $134,000 per year to incarcerate one person. Evidence shows that the more people are rehabilitated, the less likely they are to become homeless and re-offend, avoiding costs for re-incarceration. These savings can be reallocated to community programs, investments in mental health programs, education, and other public services, improving the well-being of all Californians while saving taxpayers money.
Today, when California decides to hold someone accountable with a prison sentence, it's in everyone's interest that, upon their release, these individuals have the tools they need to turn their lives around and never return. That's how California can reduce crime, prevent victimization, and reduce taxpayer spending on a bloated prison system.
Prison labor undermines the ability of thousands of incarcerated people to turn their lives around and makes it more likely that they will reoffend when they inevitably return to their communities. It’s this exact dynamic that’s helping drive recidivism and extraordinary spending on California’s prison system wherein the majority of people that exit return within three years.
Californians are throwing billions of dollars at a bloated prison system that fails far more often than it succeeds.