totally uncool joker

a prison abolitionist,

a harm reductionist,

for decriminilization,

and giving the land back

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 the communities at risk? wasn’t the problem a white supremacist state? wasn’t the goal community terrorism? wasn’t the problem the power being out of our hands, and the hands of the 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.

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