In the suit, Harold Mortis and Richard Lilgerose, inmates at Fremont Correctional Facility in Cañon City, said they lost time credits in 2020 for not following the rules by working in the kitchen, which added days to their sentences, the Associated Press reported. They both caught the virus the month before, in October 2020, and did not feel comfortable going back to work yet because of health concerns.
The lawsuit is calling into question whether the state’s Department of Corrections was in violation of an anti-slavery law by forcing them to work, which could have an impact on other inmates in similar situations.
Mortis, 32, has asthma, so he feared getting COVID-19 again, as he believed he first caught the virus while working in the kitchen, Colorado Public Radio (CPR) reported. Lilgerose, 45, told prison workers that his mental health was deteriorating, and that the kitchen job was aggravating his post-traumatic stress disorder.
According to the CPR report, both asked prison workers if they could be assigned to different jobs, but the requests were denied, leading both to refuse to report to work. As a result, Mortis lost two days of earned time and Lilgerose lost four. Losing earned time meant their parole eligibility dates were pushed back.
According to AP, the suit also said the two were threatened with isolation and had their phone calls and family visits limited until they went back to work. The CPR report said years of solitary confinement was one of the main contributors to Lilgerose’s PTSD and anxiety.
In a phone interview with CPR, Mortis said they had no choice but to go back to work.
“This is a work camp, basically,” he said.
In 2018, Colorado voted on an amendment to the state constitution that removed a passage that said slavery is illegal “except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” according to Ballotpedia.
Though the inmates technically get paid for the kitchen work—80 cents a day—Mortis and Lilgerose argued that forcing them to work under the threat of an increased sentence was violating the law.
Kamau Allen, who helped pass the amendment and has worked to get it passed in other states, told CPR that free and incarcerated people should “never be forced to work at the threat of punishment.
“It’s extremely concerning to know you could spend a longer amount of time in prison for simply deciding not to work, especially when it comes to your own health.”
Update 2/16/22, 2:17 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
