Prison abolition movement - Definition and Overview

Prison abolition movement is a movement which goal is abolition of prison system either as it exists today or complete elimination of all freedom depriving institutions including prisons, jails, immigration detention centers, war camps, etc.

History

One of the first to actually propose prison abolition were Quakers. Today, the Anarchist Black Cross is one of the major advocates of prison abolition.

Anarchists in prison abolition

Historically anarchists have played a significan part in prison abolition movement, this trend is continuing today. The main reason for that is anarchism's goal to eliminate all forms of state control, and prisons are one of its more obvious examples. Prisons also have a strong link with capitalism, especially in the case of private prisons and prison labor. Since most of the trends of anarchism are openly anti-capitalist it gives them yet another reason for the opposition to prisons. It is common for the state to use the penal system to fight the radical movements within its own borders, therefore many other movements are also being put between the rock and the hard place. However, most of the statist parties put prisons in the category of tools that can be used after the power will be taken by them. Philosophically anarchists cannot make such a claim (since the avoid state power), therefore, abolition of the whole system of prisons is the only option.

Tactics

Tactics differ significantly depending on the political beliefs that individuals or groups hold, they include:

• Penal system reforms
  • Substituting encarceration with supervised release, probation, or community work.
  • Decreasing terms of imprisonment (ex. by getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences)
• Prison condition reforms
• Crime prevention (rather than punishment)
• Stopping of specific government programs that increase prison population (ie. War on Drugs).
• Education programs (what to do if you get pulled over or arrested).
• Decreasing ethnic disparity in prison population
• Fighting against individual cases of wrongful convictions
• Giving talks educating people who have never been in prison about the problems

Arguments for prison abolition

• In the United States of America, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to the Constitution did not abolish slavery, but simply limited it to cases where it is a "punishment for the crime", but in other countries prisons are also nothing more than institutionalised slavery. Thus prisons are immoral since they are instruments slavery.
• The state will always use prisons to lock away undesirables.
• Interpretation of laws is subjective.
• Judicial outcome depends on how much money accused individual has.
• Legislature is tilted towards profiting one segment of population over another. In most countries tobacco is legal, while marijuana is not, because large corporations control the former, while the latter will be impossible to control to such a degree and tax.
• Police and prisons make people become alienated from their communities. Individuals call cops, rather than taking care of their internal problems collectively.
• There are examples of prisonless societies.
• Prisons are not proven to make people less violent.
• Prisons fuel rape desires in people, rather than allowing them to work to end those desires in themselves.

Arguments against prison abolition

• Prisons are necessary to preserve order and peace of society.
• If somebody has raped your mother (sister, wife, etc) would you want them to get away with it?
• Prisons were always there in a civilised society.

See also

List of organisations supporting prison abolition

• American Friends Service Committee
• Anarchist Black Cross
• Anarchist Prisoners' Legal Aid Network
• North American Prisoner Support Network
• Critical Resistance

List of other relevant organisation

• American Civil Liberties Union
• Amnesty International
• Books to Prisoners
• Families Against Mandatory Minimums
• Minnesota Prison Labor Union
• NAACP
• November Coalition

Relevant topics

• crime
• false imprisonment
• incarceration
• judicial system
• law
• legislative system
• mandatory minimum sentence
• political prisoner
• prison
• prison labor
• prisoner of war
• private prison
• probation
• slavery
• unfree labour