you might come up with several answers here.
shit, i don’t know. we need prisons as prisons are to A) withhold certain people from harming their communities, B) punish certain people, C) kill certain people.
uh, i guess i can kind of answer this. the criminal justice system still exists. why don’t we just leave those people in charge? they’re not cops! and we should definitely let people who have committed non-violent offenses go. drug charges are stupid.
ok, i feel a little more confident answering this. we need to change the prison model for the better and follow the example of countries with restorative justice practices. incarcerated people need better access to healthcare and education, as well as access to opportunifies post-prison so that they are less likely to face reincarceration.
wait. if we’re abolishing the police for upholding white supremacy and terrorizing marginalized communities, we need to abolish a lot of shit. restorative justice sounds cool, i agree with that guy above. but shouldn’t these efforts be run by the communities affected? wasn’t the problem a white supremacist state? wasn’t the goal community terrorism? wasn’t the power taken out of our hands, especially the hands of people being systematically criminalized? i think i have things to read about.
anyway, whatever your conclusion: here are some things to read about.
darkness matters: on the surveillance of blackness by simone brown
are prisons obsolete? by angela davis
the law is a white dog by colin dayan
gendering the carceral state: african american women, history, and the criminal justice system by kali n gross and cheryl d hicks
“indigenous space and decolonizing prison abolition” from the final straw radio podcast (this is an episode of a podcast featuring ni frontiers ni prison, an indigenous prison abolitionist group)
migra! a history of the us border control by kelly lyle hernandez
disability incarcerated by liat ben-moshe and allison c carey
queer (in)justice by joey l mogul, andrea j ritchie, and kay whitlock
crazy in america: the hidden tragedy of our criminalized mentally ill by mary beth pfeiffer
inventing the savage: the social construction of native american criminality by luana ross
criminal justice facts posted by the sentencing project
is prison necessary? an article featuring ruth wilson gilmore & explaining prison abolition to children who were very good at asking “but what about [x]?” questions
and here’s an FAQ about prison abolition by people against prisons aotearoa
and then another collection of links by the marshall project.
if you have trouble getting ahold of any reading materials i can usually find you a pdf if you DM me. if you need epub i can’t guarantee i can get one for you, but i can try.
