Federal Court Hears Arguments for Stopping Farm Work at Louisiana’s Angola Prison in Intense Heat

Da’Shawn Johnson and Bonnie Bolden

10 minutes ago

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A federal judge heard arguments on a motion to stop using the Farm Line at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola, during Louisiana’s intense summer heat.

Federal Judge Brian Jackson took up the request for the emergency order at the Russell Long Federal Building and Courthouse, 777 Florida St., Baton Rouge. The hearing began at 2 p.m. Afterwards, a press conference was held with The Promise of Justice Initiative, Rights Behind Bars and Voice of the Experienced.

In May, VOTE and eight men currently imprisoned in Angola asked the federal court for an emergency order to stop outdoor agricultural work as soon as temperatures rise above 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It is difficult to overstate how the combination of forced labor, high heat and woefully inadequate medical care in Angola is life-threatening for those locked inside,” said Oren Nimni, director litigation at Rights Behind Bars, in a press release. “Inaction in the face of these conditions is unacceptable. Angola should have ended the Farm Line a long time ago.

The groups argue that the Farm Line is meant to be punitive, not help rehabilitate the men, and that it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. In a federal lawsuit first filed in September, the plaintiffs claim that the details of the work, particularly in extreme heat, violate prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights to protection from cruelty.

Specifically, they said the work had been active since 1893 and that they considered it modern slavery.

Lydia Wright, PJI’s associate director of civil litigation, said workers are only paid up to two cents an hour. She said they made the same salary in the 1950s. In the event of an injury, their co-pay costs $3, which equates to 150 hours worked. If, for example, they pass out in the field and require on-site EMT care, the copay is $6.

Defendants in the case include Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc; director Timothy Hooper; Director of Prison Enterprises, Misty Stagg; the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections; and prison companies.

The state says the attempt to stop Farm Line work is excessive and goes beyond the prisoners’ constitutional rights. They say the agricultural sector is not meeting the standards the state wants the state to meet. Additionally, the state said some claims made in the lawsuit were not true.

In a response filed in Louisiana Middle District Court, the defendants said the state has policies in place to keep workers healthy, including:

• Reassess the temperature every 2 hours.
• Issue a heat alert when it’s over 88 degrees.
• Allow breaks to rest and water every 30 minutes when a heat alert is active.

According to the state, there would be huge financial repercussions if Farm Line stopped operating when it’s too hot because it harvests food for inmates.

“A ruling prohibiting any inmate from working on Farm Line if the heat index exceeds 88 degrees would effectively open the doors and cease all work at any facility across the South. Given that, according to Dr. (Susi) Vassallo, more than 32 million people work outdoors each year, ceasing all outdoor activity is an absurd outcome,” state attorneys argued in their court filings.

The plaintiffs also argued in their lawsuit that people convicted by non-unanimous juries could not be forced to work on Farm Line because it violated their rights under the 13th Amendment. Jackson ruled June 5 that asking the court to determine the validity of those sentences but asserting that a unanimous jury had not properly found them guilty was a “paradoxical conclusion.”

He said other claims in the suit remain viable and will be addressed.

A court date has been set for Monday, September 30.

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