Do you support this bill?

Assembly Bill A3142

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Prohibits involuntary employment of prisoners

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

co-Sponsors

2021-A3142 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S308
Current Committee:
Assembly Judiciary
Law Section:
Constitution, Concurrent Resolutions to Amend
Laws Affected:
Amd Art 3 §24, Constn
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2019-2020: A8661, S6781
2023-2024: A3412, S225

2021-A3142 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to prohibiting involuntary employment of prisoners; provides that no prisoner shall be compelled to provide labor against his or her will by actual force, threats of force, threats of punishment, threats of legal coercion or by any scheme, plan or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if such person did not provide such labor that such person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint.

2021-A3142 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3142
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 22, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. EPSTEIN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Correction
 
             CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
 
 proposing an amendment to section 24 of article 3 of  the  constitution,
   in relation to prohibiting involuntary employment of prisoners

   Section 1. Resolved (if the Senate concur), That section 24 of article
 3 of the constitution be amended to read as follows:
   §  24.  [The legislature shall, by law, provide for the occupation and
 employment of prisoners sentenced to the several state prisons, peniten-
 tiaries, jails and reformatories in the state; and no] NO person in  any
 [such]  STATE  prison,  penitentiary,  jail  or  reformatory,  shall  be
 required or allowed to work, while under sentence thereto, at any trade,
 industry or occupation, wherein or whereby his or her work, or the prod-
 uct or profit of his or her work, shall be farmed out, contracted, given
 or sold to any person, firm, association or corporation,  provided  that
 the  legislature  may provide by law that such prisoners may voluntarily
 perform work for nonprofit organizations PROVIDED THAT NO  PERSON  SHALL
 BE  COMPELLED  TO PROVIDE LABOR AGAINST HIS OR HER WILL BY ACTUAL FORCE,
 THREATS OF FORCE, THREATS OF PUNISHMENT, THREATS OF LEGAL COERCION OR BY
 ANY SCHEME, PLAN OR PATTERN INTENDED TO  CAUSE  THE  PERSON  TO  BELIEVE
 THAT,  IF  SUCH  PERSON  DID  NOT PROVIDE SUCH LABOR THAT SUCH PERSON OR
 ANOTHER PERSON WOULD SUFFER PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL OR MENTAL HARM OR  PHYS-
 ICAL  RESTRAINT.  As used in this section, the term "nonprofit organiza-
 tion" means an organization operated exclusively for religious, charita-
 ble, or educational purposes, no part  of  the  net  earnings  of  which
 inures  to  the  benefit of any private shareholder or individual. [This
 section shall not be construed to prevent the legislature from providing
 that convicts may work for, and that the products of their labor may  be
 disposed  of  to, the state or any political division thereof, or for or
 to any public institution owned or managed and controlled by the  state,
 or any political division thereof.]
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.