New Hampshire’s House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would make "hard labor” a sentencing option for certain prisoners. According to the legislation, such labor would include manufacturing or assembling work that requires "significant physical exertion,” intended to serve as "punitive retribution and societal deterrence.”
The bill stated that the sentence would apply in the case of a conviction involving capital murder and serious sexual assaults on children. It requires an affirmative vote of at least nine jurors in a 12-person jury. If imposed, the defendant would face life imprisonment at hard labor without parole.
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A commissioner of corrections would assign the hard labor assignments, which require no less than eight hours of work per day, five days per week. The measure does not specify whether the duties would take place inside prisons or in public settings.
The proposal established medical exemptions but noted that a commissioner could impose alternative punishments, including 23 hours of daily isolation. Commissioners could also incorporate rehabilitative components such as vocational training. Any compensation would follow the prevailing prison wage rate, which New Hampshire reportedly sets at $1 to $4 per day.
State Rep. Jennifer Rhodes, who voted for the legislation, described the hard labor as "the same daily tasks that many people call careers.” However, opposing State Rep. Linda Harriott-Gathright said it "mandates labor camps for life and creates constitutional concerns.” The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire called the measure "harsh, cruel and archaic.”
The proposal passed the state House of Representatives 179-159 and will head to the state Senate.
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