The Prison Abolitionist Movement
The prison abolitionist movement is a social campaign to eliminate prisons, policing, and surveillance, and find lasting alternatives to incarceration. The movement began in the 1980s in response to the War on Drugs and the rise of incarceration that imprisoned millions of poor black and brown individuals. Understanding that crime and incarceration is often the solution to poor societal economic situations, prison abolitionists believe that imprisoning individuals won’t solve these root causes and will instead aggravate economic disparities. Prison abolitionism focuses on undoing societal structures that oppress and control citizens through the “justice” system.
Prison abolitionists argue that our criminal justice is beyond reform and therefore must be completely dismantled and rebuilt in order to create change. Note that the abolitionist movement does not call for the immediate end to all prisons but for prisons to be more of a last resort instead of an automatic reaction. The movement instead hopes to prioritize other solutions that would seek to end the economic and racial discrimination present in America. This would include effective drug treatments and more resources for gaining employment and education for incarcerated individuals and returning citizens.
There are three pillars of abolitionism, the first of which is to directly stop building and creating new forms of imprisonment. The second is a step back - decarceration - which is concerned with finding ways to get people out of prison. The last pillar is incarceration which is finding ways to divert people from the justice system in the first place. For example, destigmatizing mental-health episodes, fighting homelessness, and decriminalizing drug use are all ways to prevent people from being pipelined towards prison. Additionally, some alternatives to incarceration include restorative justice - restoring relationships prior to the harm being done - and transformative justice - transforming communities so the harm cannot happen again.
Another important highlight of the movement is it brings to light the devastating impact incarceration has on minority communities and the disproportionate laws and sentencing rates that define the system. It is a system which systematically exploits brown and black people and uses policing and prisons as the answer to social problems. When people see the horrible conditions of jails and prisons, they often believe that more funding is the needed solution - abolitionism explains how that is not the case. Therefore, abolitionists aim to take the billions of dollars spent on prisons to instead be put towards providing everyone with education, housing, and food and creating safe communities where social welfare is a right, not a luxury.
There are many people and organizations supporting the abolitionist movement - I am including a few links below in case you are able to donate/support!