A/HRC/56/68/Add.1 principles of legality, non-discrimination. precaution, necessity, proportionality, accountability and 44. Those from racially marginalized groups who are convicted of crimes are often more likely to be sentenced to excessive custodial sentences, such as life without the possibility of parole and other excessive sentences, including those which exceed natural life expectancy, referred to collectively as “death by incarceration” sentences. The Special Rapporteur is shocked that these sentences are applied even in cases of non-violent offences; offences, such as felony murder, where the accused may not have been directly involved in the commission of a violent crime; and cases where alleged offences took place in the context of domestic abuse. Death by incarceration sentences are disproportionately used when sentencing individuals of African or Latino/Hispanic descent, including children. 23 Sentences that condemn people, including minors, to die in prison and do not offer the chance of parole negate the purported rehabilitative function of the prison system, reducing it to a tool of segregation and exploitation. Moreover, death by incarceration sentences can be considered to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment 24 and their racially disparate use violates the prohibition of racial discrimination, in contravention of international human rights treaties that the United States is party to. The Special Rapporteur is also appalled by the continued incarceration of people of African descent in Louisiana, convicted by non-unanimous juries under Jim Crow-era laws, despite the ruling decision of the United States Supreme Court in Ramos v. Louisiana. 45. The Special Rapporteur received reports of poorly paid or unpaid forced labour by prisoners, who are disproportionately from racially marginalized groups. Such work is sometimes hazardous, including in conditions which are remarkably similar to historical patterns of chattel slavery. For example, the Special Rapporteur was shocked by reports that descendants of those subjected to slavery, imprisoned in Louisiana State Penitentiary, located on a former plantation, are forced to pick cotton while being patrolled by armed white men on horseback. The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery and involuntary servitude in 1865, except as punishment for a crime. 46. Following the end of legally mandated chattel slavery, the arrest and incarceration of people of African descent for petty crimes or vagrancy reportedly increased, facilitating access to free or very low-cost labour by business interests. 25 Continuing free or very low-cost labour from detainees, disproportionately people of African descent, in working conditions that at times do not meet relevant United States safety standards, serves to support for-profit commercial activities. Even more shockingly, incarceration is still used today as a tool to extract free or very low-cost labour from people of African descent. 47. The Special Rapporteur is concerned by reports she received about the racial disparities in the use of solitary confinement, including to punish persons who refuse hazardous prison labour. In one detention facility in California, the Special Rapporteur observed only persons who appeared to be from racially marginalized groups in the area used for solitary confinement. 48. The conditions of detention in the United States include policies and practices that could lead to human rights violations. Reports of overcrowding of prisons and the use of jails lacking suitable facilities and programmes for long-term detention persist. There are reported cases of violence, including sexual violence, including against incarcerated persons from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, allegedly perpetrated by detainees and prison officials. Health-care services are reportedly inadequate; this includes a lack of gender-appropriate facilities and services for women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons, including those from racially marginalized groups. Incarcerated women with life sentences without the possibility of parole reported to the Special Rapporteur that they had 23 24 25 GE.24-08027 See communication USA 12/2023, available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28080. See the conference room paper of the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement on their visit to the United States, available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc54crp7-internationalindependent-expert-mechanism-advance-racial. Ibid. 11