TIM HICKS SPENT several years working a menial job that paid eight cents an hour in the main kitchen while incarcerated in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. He described it as “horrible, nasty, and disgusting.”
According to Hicks, his work supervisor was very “aggressive and determined” to use him to get the job done.
“When they abolished slavery they had to make a way to where they can still keep their foot on our people’s necks and prisons are where they can get away with it,” Hicks said during an episode of a podcast created by incarcerated individuals called “Uncuffed.” The episode was about involuntary servitude.
Hicks, who is African American, was released from San Quentin months ago. He was given $200 gate money — funds from the state for people leaving prison to cover basic necessities in their first days of freedom — and now depends on transitional housing (free room and board) to support himself. After being locked up 16 years, working for practically nothing, he has returned to a world that is much more expensive and difficult to navigate without any savings.
The current minimum wage in California is $16 an hour. Tens of thousands of people in California prisons are forced into slavery, working for nothing or for pennies. They’re unable to provide for themselves, pay restitution, focus on rehabilitation, or build a safety net.
This November, Californians will have an opportunity to eliminate slavery by voting yes on Proposition 6, which will remove involuntary servitude from Article 1 Section 6 of California’s Constitution. If Proposition 6 passes it will allow incarcerated individuals to focus on their rehabilitation, drug addiction, and mental health needs, rather than engage in forced labor.
Those who choose to work will do so voluntarily. This proposition could help lift families out of debt and possibly lead to an increase of wages for the incarcerated.
Paid pennies per hour
Ryan Pagan is currently incarcerated at San Quentin and spoke about involuntary servitude on the Uncuffed podcast. He has to pay a $10,000 restitution order and an additional $2,000 in court costs for his criminal trial. He makes pennies an hour at his job in the media center.
“The majority of people in prison are poor, that’s a fact,” said Pagan. “You’re basically telling me that, not only do I have to pay 55 percent restitution out of my prison pay, but my family becomes liable to help pay the debt from any monies they send me for support.”
According to a survey done by the Ella Baker Center For Human Rights, roughly 65% of families with a loved one in prison were unable to meet their basic needs because court-related fines and fees sent them into debt, over $13,000 on average.
An estimated 1 in 3 families went into debt because of communication and visitation costs alone, a point San Quentin prisoner Anthony Caravalho mentions.
“The majority of people in prison are poor, that’s a fact. You’re basically telling me that, not only do I have to pay 55 percent restitution out of my prison pay, but my family becomes liable to help pay the debt from any monies they send me for support.” Ryan Pagan, San Quentin inmate
“My wife doesn’t get that if she sends me $100, I only get $45 because 55 percent goes to restitution,” Caravalho said. “When I took my deal and received restitution, I was burdened with it, not my family.”
According to a 2022 comprehensive national survey by the American Civil Liberties Union titled “Captive Labor: Exploitation of Incarcerated Workers,” incarcerated individuals are forced to work for years as kitchen workers, groundskeepers, factory workers, janitors, and dozens of other menial jobs that pay little to nothing.
Worth Rises, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy organization working to end slavery in prisons, has created a digital archive detailing over 200 first-hand accounts of slavery from incarcerated workers. This archive was created for the #EndTheException campaign for 800,000 incarcerated workers forced to labor in the United States.
“These letters give us a glimpse into the day-to-day horrors of slavery that hundreds of thousands of people endure behind prison walls everyday,” said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises. “Now, with this archive the public can hear the truth directly from those inside.” Some of these horrors include incarcerated workers getting sick or dying from forced labor during the deadly COVID-19 outbreak. Some people were taken out of their alcohol and drug treatment programs and forced to work as table wipes in kitchens.
Consequences of not working can be severe
Incarcerated individuals who refuse to work in California prisons can face stiff disciplinary sanctions such as loss of canteen — a walk-up window where inmates can purchase packaged foods and snacks as well as basic necessities — as well as possibly not receiving packages, and losing access to yard exercise and family visits.
Typically, they can receive a 128 Rule Violation Report (RVR) which is basically a warning, or a 115 RVR, which is a serious prison rule violation that can lead to a denial of parole for a prisoner serving a life sentence.
However, the state Board of Parole Hearings is under no obligation to acknowledge the years of labor of a potential parolee as a mitigating factor favoring parole. Colorado was the first state to abolish slavery in prisons in 2018, followed by Utah and Nebraska. In 2022, six more states launched initiatives, including Vermont, Oregon, Tennessee, and Alabama. By the opening of this year’s legislative session in 2024, 18 amendment campaigns began, including in Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and North Carolina.
“How can they say that me working for eight cents an hour, not being able to take care of myself, or pay for my own restitution is good for my rehabilitation,” said Pagan. “That just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Steve Brooks is a California Local News Fellow with Bay City News Foundation, reporting from inside San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. His perspective gives readers insight into issues and news from inside the prison. See more of his work at Inside/Out on Local News Matters.