A group of current and former prisoners sued Alabama on Tuesday, saying that the state’s system of prison labor is a “modern-day form of slavery” that forces them to work, often for little or no money, for the benefit of government agencies and private businesses.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, the 10 plaintiffs, who are all Black, say the state regularly denies incarcerated people parole so that they can be “leased” out to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for local and state agencies and businesses every year.

The lawsuit accuses the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles of perpetuating the use of incarcerated workers by openly disregarding a 2015 state law that required it to make evidence-based parole decisions.

Instead, the lawsuit says, the board denies parole to anyone convicted of a violent offense, and disproportionately denies parole to Black people, particularly those who are deemed low-risk and eligible to participate in the state’s “extremely lucrative” prison work programs.

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