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A review by ivanainthecity
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis
informative
5.0
As an educator, I’m deeply interested in prison abolition, especially since the school to prison pipeline contributes to it so much. In this short and accessible book, Dr. Angela Davis breaks down the history of the prison industrial complex and argues for its abolition. She makes parallels between prisons and slavery—racist and dehumanizing institutions that disenfranchise and reduce human beings to sources of profit.
This book is a great primer for those wanting to learn more about the roots and consequences of the prison industrial complex, but it is also helpful for those of us who want to believe in prison abolition but have a hard time imagining how to achieve it. Davis asserts that “[s]lavery, lynching and segregation are… compelling examples of social institutions that, like the prison, were once considered to be as everlasting as the sun.” (24) Davis ponders, “What… would it mean to imagine a system in which punishment is not allowed to become the source of corporate profit? How can we imagine a society in which race and class are not primary determinants of punishment? Or one in which punishment itself is no longer the central concern in the making of justice?“ (107)
The prison industrial complex is a monster made up of many different moving parts, including corporations, the court systems, policing, politician’s agendas, and schools. In order to dismantle it, we must envision “a continuum of alternatives to imprisonment—demilitarization of schools, revitalization of education at all levels, a health system that provides free physical and mental care to all, and a justice system based on reparation and reconciliation rather than retribution and vengeance” (107).
This book is a great primer for those wanting to learn more about the roots and consequences of the prison industrial complex, but it is also helpful for those of us who want to believe in prison abolition but have a hard time imagining how to achieve it. Davis asserts that “[s]lavery, lynching and segregation are… compelling examples of social institutions that, like the prison, were once considered to be as everlasting as the sun.” (24) Davis ponders, “What… would it mean to imagine a system in which punishment is not allowed to become the source of corporate profit? How can we imagine a society in which race and class are not primary determinants of punishment? Or one in which punishment itself is no longer the central concern in the making of justice?“ (107)
The prison industrial complex is a monster made up of many different moving parts, including corporations, the court systems, policing, politician’s agendas, and schools. In order to dismantle it, we must envision “a continuum of alternatives to imprisonment—demilitarization of schools, revitalization of education at all levels, a health system that provides free physical and mental care to all, and a justice system based on reparation and reconciliation rather than retribution and vengeance” (107).