Colorado Election–Amendment T

I wanted to make a few posts on the Colorado ballot issues, to be sure I’m happy with how I feel. Delaney, Tia, and I discussed all these one night, working our way through the ballot issues.

I’ll tackle these one by one, as I fill out the ballot, to be sure I understand what I think.

Amendment T

This amendment removes verbiage that allows slavery and involuntary servitude. This means removing parts that allow for forced, unpaid labor by convicted criminals.

Easy, right? No more slavery.

It’s not simple. This potentially covers prison work requirements, community service, and work requirements for probation.

That makes me think more.

However, I am for this amendment. It’s largely symbolic in that we do not allow slavery at this time, and other states have the ability to entice work requirements in some cases for prisoners.

I think it’s perfectly reasonable to suspend or lift a sentence if a convicted person agrees to community service or work requirements. In prison, more privileges for those that work, a standard for those that don’t.

Other states do this.

I do not want language that allows slavery or involuntary servitude in our constitution.