Alabama's prison labor program amounts to "modern day slavery," lawsuit claims
CBSN
Montgomery, Ala. — Current and former inmates announced a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Alabama's prison labor program as a type of "modern day slavery," saying prisoners are forced to work for little pay - and sometimes no pay - in jobs that benefit government entities or private companies.
The class action suit also accuses the state of maintaining a discriminatory parole system with a low release rate that ensures a supply of laborers while also generating money for the state.
"The forced labor scheme that currently exists in the Alabama prison system is the modern reincarnation of the notorious convict leasing system that replaced slavery after the Civil War," Janet Herold, the legal director of Justice Catalyst Law, said Tuesday.
Married couples across the U.S. have had access to no-fault divorce for more than 50 years, an option many call crucial to supporting domestic abuse victims and key to preventing already crowded family courts from drowning in complicated divorce proceedings.
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A sonar image suspected of showing the remains of the plane of Amelia Earhart, the famed American aviator who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937, has turned out to be a rock formation.
A pilot and a rescue dog he was transporting to an animal shelter were killed when a small plane crashed in the snowy woods of the Catskill Mountains, though two other dogs were later found to have survived, authorities said.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, is rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, joining a growing list of major corporations that have done the same after coming under attack by conservative activists.
The typical American retires far earlier than he or she expects to, and it's often not by choice, according to new research from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.
Rapper Drake's company Frozen Moments filed a petition in a New York court Monday accusing the streaming service Spotify and Universal Music Group of conspiring to inflate the streams of Kendrick Lamar's hit diss track "Not Like Us."
President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office as part of his efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.
A class of drugs known as GLP-1s have been helping people lose weight, but out of pocket costs put them out of reach for many Americans. In West Virginia, a subsidy program for public employees was showing promising results, but then the state abruptly ended it, leaving many searching for new solutions.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, the White House said Monday.
Starbucks said Monday that a ransomware attack on a third-party software provider is hindering its ability to track baristas' hours and manage their pay.