A federal judge said a case challenging conditions on a Louisiana prison work assignment can move forward as a class action, opening the door for the lawsuit to impact thousands of incarcerated people.
The decision, made in late December, came as part of the case fighting the "farm line" at Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola. It is among prison labor lawsuits that have recently moved through Southern courts.
The "farm line" is an agricultural work assignment involving labor in the fields around Angola, which is on the site of a former plantation.
The advocacy group Voice of the Experienced and several plaintiffs first filed the suit in 2023. It alleges the "farm line" as it is now operated violates the Eighth Amendment rights of people working there and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Eighth Amendment protects against "cruel and unusual punishments," as well as excessive bail and fines.
In a 32-page order, Middle District of Louisiana Judge Brian A. Jackson said he would grant class status to a general class of people who are or could be assigned to the "farm line," plus a subclass of people with disabilities who have or could be given the work assignment.
Plaintiffs have said the general class includes nearly everyone at Angola, which typically holds more than 4,000 people. Jackson's written order points to witness testimony showing that almost all new arrivals to the prison are assigned to the "farm line," and most remain at risk of reassignment there.
"Class certification brings this case one step closer to ending a practice rooted in exploitation and racial violence," Samantha Pourciau with The Promise of Justice Initiative — one of the groups helping litigate the case — said.
"By certifying the class, the court has recognized that the harms inflicted by the farm line are systemic — and demand a system-wide remedy."
A spokesperson for Louisiana's Department of Public Safety & Corrections said it doesn't have a comment on the pending litigation.
State officials have argued in court and legal filings that the "farm line" is essential to help operate the prison, and that protections are provided. Meanwhile, plaintiffs contend the work takes place in dangerous Louisiana heat and is commanded at the threat of violence.
The work is "degrading and grueling," Damaris Jackson, an incarcerated plaintiff in the case, wrote in a document filed with the court. A sharecropper's grandson, he had a negative reaction to "being forced to work a Louisiana cotton field, alongside other Black men, like a slave."
"When a gun guard raises his weapon in the field, everyone ducks for cover. You don't know where he's aiming or where the bullet will land," he added.
As the case has played out, the judge has made some key rulings in favor of the plaintiffs, twice granting requests to require temporary heat protections like sunscreen, shade and monitoring of heat indices. The state's lawyers have fought back, appealing rulings to the Fifth Circuit court.
Pourciau said plaintiffs want the judge to end the "farm line," but he has indicated he does not believe he has the legal authority to do that.
"We disagree with that, but we are hoping he will find that the way the prison currently operates the farm line at Angola is unconstitutional," she said.
Their ask then is for protections ordered over the course of the case to be made permanent.
In his Dec. 23 court order, the judge wrote that plaintiffs had met the four tests to qualify each of the two classes, as well as other legal requirements, including exhausting their remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
Incarcerated people who are class members will not have to opt in to the suit, as it seeks changes to policy, not monetary damages.
The class certification decision should not affect an approaching trial date, Pourciau said. A trial in the case is set to begin in Baton Rouge on Feb. 3.
