By Max Matza

BBC News, Seattle

It's 157 years since the US constitution banned chattel slavery - in which one person is the legal property of another - but left in place an exemption for convicted prisoners.

Throughout most of the US, slavery or involuntary servitude are still legal as punishment for a crime.

But on 8 November, voters in five states - Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont - will decide whether to remove these exemptions from their state constitutions and ban slavery entirely.

The outcome could enable prisoners to challenge forced labour. Some 800,000 currently work for pennies, or for nothing at all. Seven states do not pay prison workers any wage for most job assignments.

Supporters of change say it's an exploitative loophole that must be closed.

But critics argue that the move is unaffordable and could lead to unintended consequences in the criminal justice system.

'I worked for 25 years and came home with 124 dollars'

The roots of the modern system originate in the centuries of enslavement of African-Americans, human rights researchers say.

In the years after slavery was outlawed, laws were passed that specifically aimed to suppress black communities and force them into prisons where they would be required to work.

Now, some imprisoned black Americans are still forced to pick cotton and other crops on the southern plantations where their forefathers were kept in chains.

"The United States of America has never had a day without codified...

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