DENVER — Does slavery still exist in Colorado? That's the question a class action lawsuit heading to trial Tuesday is looking to answer.

It's against Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC), and it's focused specifically on forced labor in prisons.

It goes back to the 13th Amendment which has a clause that states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States."

That clause has previously allowed forced labor in prisons, but in 2018, Colorado voters amended the state's constitution making slavery, or forced labor, illegal with no exceptions.

Sarah Beaudoin spent 18-and-a-half years in prison and said nothing has changed.

"If you don't go to

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