Prison abolition movement is a movement which goal is abolition of the 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 significant 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 . Anarchists are against prisons because largely they house non-violent offenders, incarcerate largely poor and people of color, and generally do not rehabilitate criminals, and in many cases make things worse.

In place of prisons, anarchists generally propose creations of community controled courts, councils, and assemblies that could locally deal and control problems of largely social crimes. They argue that with the destruction of capitalism, and the self-management over production via workers and communities, property crimes would largely vanish. They then argue, that largely social crimes, (rape, incest, murder, etc.), will have to be dealt with and worked to be done away with, or at least confronted and understood as to prevent such crimes.

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 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 of slavery.
• The state will always use prisons to lock away undesirables .
• Interpretation of laws is subjective.
• Judicial outcome depends on how much money an 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 alienate people 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 in society.
• Punishment for bad deeds in society.

See also

List of organisations supporting prison abolition

• American Friends Service Committee
• Anarchist Black Cross
• Anarchist Prisoners' Legal Aid Network
• Critical Resistance
• Justice Now
• North American Prisoner Support Network
• Prison Activist Resource Center

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

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

External links

• Prison abolition & alternatives
• Prison Abolition pamphlet