Prop 6, which would have banned involuntary servitude in prisons, fails in blow to criminal justice reform advocates

California voters have rejected a ballot measure to prohibit forced prison labor, in a major disappointment to advocates of criminal justice reform and many of the 90,000 people incarcerated in state prisons.

Proposition 6 would have amended the state’s constitution to ban involuntary servitude for people in prison. The proposition would instead have allowed people in prison to chose their jobs, with a related proposal that would have created voluntary work programs within the prison system.