Louisiana ordered to help protect prisoners working in camps as temperatures rise

Amid scorching summer temperatures, a federal judge ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation, saying they face a “substantial risk of injury or death.” The state immediately appealed the decision.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order, giving the state Department of Corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions at the so-called farm line of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola.

Jackson asked the state to make changes to heat-related policies. He said problems included inadequate shade, a lack of work breaks and a failure to provide prisoners with sunscreen and other basic protections, including medical checks for those especially vulnerable to high temperatures. The judge, however, stopped short of shutting down the production line entirely when heat indexes reached 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees Celsius) or higher, which was what the plaintiffs had requested.

The order comes amid growing national attention on prison labor, a practice that has its roots in slavery and has evolved over decades into a multibillion-dollar industry. A two-year investigation by The Associated Press linked the supply chains of some of the world’s largest and most well-known companies, from Walmart to Burger King, to Angola and other prison farms, where incarcerated workers are paid pennies an hour or nothing at all. Several companies, including Cargill, have since said they have cut ties or are in the process of doing so with prison farms or companies that use incarcerated labor.

Last year, several men imprisoned at Angola, along with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Voice of the Experienced (VOTE), filed a class-action lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor in the fields of the maximum-security prison, once a former slave plantation that spans some 40,000 acres. The men, most of whom are Black, said they use hoes and shovels or bend over to pick crops by hand in dangerously high temperatures while armed guards look on. If they refuse to work or fail to meet quotas, they can be sent to solitary confinement or face other punishment, according to disciplinary guidelines.

As temperatures across the state continue to rise, “dealing with the heat in Louisiana has become a matter of life and death,” Jackson wrote in his 78-page ruling. “Conditions on the production line ‘create a substantial risk of injury or death.’”

Lydia Wright of The Promise of Justice Initiative, an attorney for the plaintiffs, applauded the decision.

“The production line has caused physical and psychological harm for generations,” he told the AP, adding that it is the first time a court has found the practice there to be cruel and unusual punishment. “It is an incredible moment for the people incarcerated and their families.”

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections “strongly disagrees” with the court’s overall ruling and has filed a notice of appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, spokesman Ken Pastorick said.

“We are still reviewing the ruling in its entirety and reserve the right to comment on it in more detail in the future,” he said.

By MARGIE MASON and ROBIN McDOWELL The Associated Press