The Freedom Now! campaign is a redistributive justice campaign to abolish slavery as it exists in the 21st century and to foster economic democracy by democratizing labor and wealth instead. We challenge the 13th Amendment penal exception clause which permits involuntary servitude, including forced labor, as punishment for persons convicted of a crime. It states:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States…“.
This campaign is composed of students, community advocates, policy experts, and lawyers committed to ending prison slave labor in New York State. We envision economic freedom in communities traditionally marginalized by the legal and economic system and heavily criminalized and policed.
Together, we are building a future where every person returning home has the tools, dignity, and opportunity to thrive. This is not just about ending prison labor — it’s about creating a New York where justice means economic freedom, work means power, and communities once left behind become the foundation of lasting socioeconomic change. Join us!
The How
Our primary goal is to advocate for policy change. We demand amending the New York State finance law to allow for the following:
- Job training programs (apprenticeships or pre-apprenticeships) that can be connected to worker-owned cooperatives in big cities (population 1 million+), with preference for union-run cooperatives because we believe that freedom starts by being able to control the means of production
- Special employment programs that allow partnerships with non-profit organizations or cooperatives that help parents who are in prison or coming home after prison because we believe that families are stronger when we all come together
The Why
We aim to support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals gain job skills and have access to wealth-generating opportunities because financial independence ensures formerly incarcerated individuals to return to cities equipped to thrive
Guiding Values
The following values guide our campaign:
- We aim to center those directly and most severely impacted by the criminalization, policing, and mass incarceration of poor people and people of color. This means amplifying the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated members of our communities, as well as the families and neighborhoods that they come from
- We hope to empower economically and racially marginalized communities to demand an end to historic disinvestment in our communities and for reparative justice from the State
- We hope to facilitate open dialogue and solidarity amongst and between currently incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, and people with no lived experience of incarceration.
- We are guided by and grounded in the values and principles of Economic Democracy
Prison Labor is Slavery: Freedom Now! 