17 January 2023: Abolition and the Prison Industrial Complex

Angela Davis. (2003). Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories Press. PDF: Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? Alternative source (PDF): https://collectiveliberation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Are_Prisons_Obsolete_Angela_Davis.pdf

Alternative source (requires free registration):

https://archive.org/details/areprisonsobsole0000davi

Recommended Supplementary Material

Reading Lists

• https://abolitionistfutures.com/

• https://criticalresistance.org/

• https://abolitionjournal.org/studyguide/

• https://transformharm.org/

• https://level.medium.com/abolition-for-the-people-397ef29e3ca5

• https://foodandabolition.org/resources

• https://aworldwithoutpolice.org/study-guide/

• https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research.html

• https://www.prisonradio.org/about/learning-resources/

• https://abolitionnotes.org/

• https://sites.google.com/view/letstalkaboutabolition/seattle-university-syllabus

Research and Statistics:

• https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports.html

• https://www.prisonstudies.org/research-publications

• https://www.vera.org/

• https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system (Sexual violence)

• https://bjs.ojp.gov/ (Bureau of Justice)

• https://www.bop.gov/ (Federal prisons)

Practical Resources

• https://dontcallthepolice.com

• NYC Anarchist Black Cross, “Write a Letter”: https://nycabc.wordpress.com/write-a-letter/

• Canines, Erica. (2021). “Black August, Letter Writing and the ‘Harm Reduction’ Administration.” Hood Communist, August 12.: https://hoodcommunist.org/2021/08/12/black-august-letter-writing-and-the-harm-reduction-administration/

24 January 2023: Abolition and the Prison Industrial Complex

Gilmore, Ruth Wilson. (2007). “Introduction,” and “The Prison Fix.” Chs. 1 and 3 in Golden Gulag. Berkeley: University of California Press, 5–29, 87–127. PDF: Gilmore, Ruth Wilson, Golden Gulag Alternative source (requires free registration): https://archive.org/details/GoldenGulag/mode/2up

Gilmore, Ruth Wilson; Toscano, Alberto; Bhandar, Brenna, (2022). Interview: “The Prison-Industrial Complex Goes Beyond Cops and Jails. It’s All Around Us.” Jacobin, 2 August.

https://jacobin.com/2022/08/prison-industrial-complex-race-capitalism-abolitionism

Recommended Supplementary Material

(2106). The Prison in Twelve Landscapes (video). Dir. Brett Story

For IUPUI students: https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/19022460

For Indianapolis Public Library cardholders: https://indypl.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=the%20prison%20in%20twelve%20landscapes

Alli, Sabrina. (2016). "Brett Story: The Prison in 12 Landscapes." Guernica 15 April.

"[Director Brett] Story expands the familiar critique of prisons to show how they shape everything from our bureaucracy and the job market to the demographics of neighborhoods across the country."

https://www.guernicamag.com/brett-story-12-landscapes/

Catsoulis, Jenannette. (2016). "Review: ‘The Prison in Twelve Landscapes’ Reveals the Invisible Tentacles of Mass Incarceration." New York Times 3 November.

"Neither lecture nor argument, “Prison,” artfully photographed by Maya Bankovic, attempts to make the invisible visible."

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/movies/the-prison-in-twelve-landscapes-review.html

Lerner, Rebecca. (2016). ‘The Prison in 12 Landscapes’ reveals a hidden part of society." The Michigan Daily 23 March.

"Canadian director Brett Story examines the ways in which the prison becomes larger than itself, influencing and reengaging spaces outside of the barbed wire intentionally located hours outside of society."

https://www.michigandaily.com/arts/prison-12-landscapes-review/

31 January 2023: Abolition and Reformism

Ben-Moshe, L. (2013). “The Tension Between Abolition and Reform.” In Nagel, M. E. and Nocella, A. J. (eds.). The End of Prisons: Reflections from the Decarceration Movement. Amsterdam: Value Inquiry Book Series, 83-92.

PDF: Ben-Moshe, “The Tension Between Abolition and Reform.”

Alternative source (PDF): https://www.dropbox.com/s/gl8rprid1qk93ek/Ben-Mosche_tension_between_abolition_reform.pdf

Audio: https://soundcloud.com/user-117009169/sets/session-2-what-is-wrong-with-reform

Berger, Dan and Mariame Kaba and David Stein. (2017). ‘What Abolitionists Do,’ Jacobinmag.com, 24 August.

Text: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/08/prison-abolition-reform-mass-incarceration

Audio: https://soundcloud.com/user-117009169/sets/session-2-what-is-wrong-with-reform

Dylan Rodriguez. (2020). “Reformism Isn’t Liberation, It’s Counterinsurgency.” LEVEL.

Audio and text: https://level.medium.com/reformism-isnt-liberation-it-s-counterinsurgency-7ea0a1ce11eb

Engler, Mark; Engler, Paul. (2021). “André Gorz’s Non-Reformist Reforms Show How We Can Transform the World Today.” The Jacobin, 22 July.

https://jacobin.com/2021/07/andre-gorz-non-reformist-reforms-revolution-political-theory

Jones, Alexi. (2020). “Reforms without Results: Why states should stop excluding violent offenses from criminal justice reforms.” Prison Policy Initiative.

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/violence.html

Recommended Supplementary Material

(2022). "Should We Abolish Prisons?: An interview with Tommie Shelby." Jacobinmag.com, 7 December.

https://jacobin.com/2022/12/tommie-shelby-interview-prison-abolition-reform