Describing Modern Day Prison Labor’s Roots in Slavery, Groups Urge Court to Uphold Rights of Incarcerated Workers Subjected to Harsh Conditions, Inhumane Treatment

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. – Speaking out in a case involving Marylanders incarcerated at the Baltimore County jail, a coalition uniting the national American Civil Liberties Union, several ACLU state affiliates, and local civil rights and racial justice groups are shining a light on how modern-day prison labor practices in Maryland and elsewhere descend from the enslavement of Black people and urging the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reject dehumanizing assumptions about incarcerated workers, who are disproportionately Black.

The groups are urging the court to declare, as have other courts, that the federal . . .