Cosponsor the End the Exception Amendment on Forced Prison Labor

The 13th Amendment still allows involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime, and seven states pay nothing for most prison jobs.

A letter to your members of Congress. Facts checked October 15, 2026.

The explainer behind this letter 13th Amendment What the 13th Amendment says, its prison labor exception, and the states removing it

The Letter

Subject Cosponsor the End the Exception Amendment on Forced Prison Labor

No one in America should be forced to work for nothing. The 13th Amendment ended slavery in 1865 with one exception: it still allows involuntary servitude "as a punishment for crime."

That exception is not just history. A 2022 report by the ACLU and the University of Chicago Law School's Global Human Rights Clinic found that seven states, including Texas, Alabama and Georgia, pay nothing for most prison jobs. Where prisons do pay, most jobs earn between 13 and 52 cents an hour. At 52 cents, it takes 20 hours of work to earn $10.

Voters have already started closing the loophole at home. Since 2018, eight states, from Colorado and Utah to Alabama and Tennessee, have passed ballot measures removing slavery or involuntary servitude as a punishment from their own constitutions. The U.S. Constitution still has it.

Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Nikema Williams introduced it as the Abolition Amendment in 2021 and again in 2023. On September 15, 2026, they reintroduced it with Senator Cory Booker as the End the Exception Amendment, which would strike the punishment exception from the 13th Amendment.

Please cosponsor the End the Exception Amendment. Slavery should have no exceptions in our Constitution.

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U.S. Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121

I'm calling about the End the Exception Amendment, which would remove the punishment exception from the 13th Amendment.
The 13th Amendment still allows involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime. Seven states pay nothing for most prison jobs, according to a 2022 ACLU report.
Eight states have already removed the same exception from their own constitutions by popular vote since 2018.
It was reintroduced on September 15, 2026. I'm asking you to cosponsor it.

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The Facts Behind the Ask

7 states Pay nothing for most prison jobs, including Texas, Alabama and Georgia (ACLU and University of Chicago, 2022) (source)
13 to 52 cents Typical hourly pay for most prison jobs where states pay at all (source)
8 states Passed ballot measures since 2018 removing the punishment exception from their constitutions (source)
2021 and 2023 Years the amendment was introduced in Congress as the Abolition Amendment (source)
Sept. 15, 2026 Reintroduced by Sen. Merkley, Rep. Williams and Sen. Booker as the End the Exception Amendment (source)

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