![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/four-states-voted-to-reject-slavery-but-not-louisiana-heres-why/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/127576198_gettyimages-1421995600.jpg&description=Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, A monument to slaves in Montgomery, AlabamaFour US states have voted to remove language from their state constitutions that said slavery is legal as a criminal punishment. But Louisiana voted to keep the slavery exception after the legislator who had sponsored the ballot initiative turned against it. Edmond Jordan said he had realised that the measure could have inadvertently expanded slavery.Advocates of the initiative say it is needed to prevent prisoner abuse.They hope to remove the same exemption from the US Constitution's 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery but kept a loophole.Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont all voted on Tuesday to remove exemptions allowing slavery or involuntary servitude from their state constitutions in an effort to ban slavery entirely.But with all ballots counted from Tuesday's midterm elections, six out of every 10 Louisiana voters opposed the amendment.The outcome could enable prisoners to challenge forced labour in the criminal justice system, say legal experts. Some 800,000 prisoners currently work for pennies, or for nothing at all, according to experts. Seven states do not pay prison workers any wage for most job assignments, and prisoners can be punished if they refuse to work. So why did Louisiana reject the change?Mr Jordan, a Democratic state representative for the city of Baton Rouge, says he pulled his initial support for the measure after a closer reading of the proposed law led him to believe that it could have actually expanded protections for slavery.Currently, the law states that "slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except in the latter case as punishment for a crime".The proposal he authored would have removed the phrase "except in the latter case as punishment for a crime" and added a clause saying that the measure "does not apply to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice"."Slavery" is currently banned under the law, he says, but the use){kind=link}
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Four US states have voted to remove language from their state constitutions that said slavery is legal as a criminal punishment.
But Louisiana voted to keep the slavery exception after the legislator who had sponsored the ballot initiative turned against it.
Edmond Jordan said he had realised that the measure could have inadvertently expanded slavery.