Vidal Guzman Interviewed by Nonprofit Quarterly
Vidal shares about his background and his work to end the forced labor of incarcerated people in New York State.
Nonprofit Quarterly’s Anastasia Reesa Tomkin interviewed Next100 policy entrepreneur Vidal Guzman for her article detailing how incarcerated people lack labor protections. The interview touches on Vidal’s background and his work to eliminate the 13th Amendment’s permissible slavery clause in New York State. Vidal says:
“We have people who think that people when they are incarcerated should be treated as less than human. When we talk about wages, when we look at what’s being said, one of the number one things is that we want people to be returned to society being prepared, being exposed, and being the best community member they can be. The only way we’re able to do that is from the beginning stages, of having someone get paid enough wages so that they can be able to not just buy the stuff that they need, but also have funding to take care of their families somewhat, in some capacity, and to prepare them to go back to society. Because we know that when people understand their abilities with money, how to deal with money, what to do with it, it benefits them when they come home.”
Read the full piece, “Labor Rights for all Must Include Incarcerated People,” here.