"Three-hundred-sixty-five days a year, you're forced to keep that farm being productive," he said. "You're doing backbreaking work, you're working in the sun, working in the cold, you're working every season, but you're not receiving anything from this."

“At Louisiana’s Angola prison, incarcerated workers are forced to pick crops in dangerous heat. A federal judge ruled last month that a recent Fifth Circuit decision took away his power to help them.”

Image: msppmoore/Flickr

“People would rather lose their minds than endure the Farm Line,” Winn said. “To the men still being punished inside Angola: We can’t give up. Our voice is our hope. We have to continue to believe and push. We can end this form of slavery.”

Image: Giles Clarke/Getty Images

Journalist Matt Bruce writes “‘The relief that they’re requesting is going to end the Farm Line. If you end the Farm Line, we’re not going to have any more produce,’” said Andrew Blanchfield, the lead attorney defending the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections and state prison officials against the plaintiffs’ allegations.”

Journalist Bernard Smith writes “The court will determine whether forced prison field labor is unconstitutional and in violation of federal disability law.”

On 12/23/25, a federal judge certified a class action for incarcerated men at Angola Prison who are forced to perform punitive farm labor under extreme, unconstitutional and conditions that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Yesterday, a federal judge granted a second temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety related to the operation of the “Farm Line” at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) during periods of extreme heat.