Proposed constitutional amendment could fully ban slavery in Kentucky

    LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) -- One hundred and sixty years after slavery was abolished in the Commonwealth, legislation aims to address the lingering effects on modern-day Kentuckians, specifically incarcerated people.

House Bill 121 proposes to remove a punishment clause from a section of the state constitution that allows slavery and involuntary servitude for those behind bars.

“I experienced working for wages as low as $0.63 a day, $12.50 a month, and sometimes lesser amounts than those,” said Savvy Shabazz, president of the Louisville branch of “All of Us or None.”

On Tuesday, Shabazz, who was incarcerated for nearly seven years, and prison reform advocates voiced their support for the constitutional amendment, which they believe many are ill-informed about. The speakers expressed harms caused by prison labor.

“Destruction of health, dignity, corruption, inhumane conditions and unsafe conditions,” said Patricia Gailey of Abolish Slavery in Kentucky. “Until we remove this clause, because it's in our Constitution, we are all complicit in crimes against humanity.”

Supporters also say this amendment signifies slavery being fully abolished for all Kentuckians.

Keeping the language in the constitution, they say, perpetuates a painful legacy of oppression and dehumanization.

“It serves as a stark reminder of a dark chapter in our nation's history when the fundamental rights of certain individuals, like myself, were systemically denied based on race,” said Shabazz.

Sponsor of HB121, Rep. George A. Brown, Jr, a Democrat from Lexington, is reintroducing the constitutional amendment this legislative session with the goal of movement and getting it heard in committee, which it failed to do last session.

“I did not want to make the same mistake I made last year with the legislation of not trying to get publicity or having a conversation about it in the public at large,” said Rep. Brown.

Brown’s push with HB121 adds Kentucky to the list of more than a dozen states with active campaigns to remove slavery exceptions from their constitutions. Nine states, including Tennessee, have successfully done so.

“I hope that Kentucky's better angels will rise and that people will understand, regardless of your ideology, this is fundamentally wrong,” said Rep. Brown.

Constitutional amendments require three-fifths support of state House and Senate members. Approval will then be needed by a majority of voters during the 2026 November election.