In this book, the author challenges the US to confront the human rights catastrophe in our jails and prisons and argues for an end to incarceration, showing how closely today's mass incarceration system resembles a modern form of slavery. She also addresses how abolition movements in the past have proven successful only after years of persistent struggle.

really good as a short primer on the history of prisons, the horrors of prisons, the racism involved, the economy exploitation and the way it links together with capitalism. i could have small quibbles with it on this stuff and I'd love it to have been longer but oh well.

the one major flaw is that it doesn't really answer the question in the title - it says why prisons are bad yet doesn't really show alternatives for how to think about justice for things like murder. imo this is a pretty big disappointment and dulls the impact of the book because it makes the problem seem unsolvable. at the very end it gives a page to describe a case of a white woman murdered by black men in south Africa whose parents forgave them and helped them get jobs in their charity set up after her death. and this seems totally inadequate cause of how limited the applicability is - the power and wealth differential that allowed the parents to be magnanimous and help them out is unusual and hardly common. idk i can't explain it, it just seemed kind of a strange and inadequate example

the only other complaint i have is that it sometimes sounds "academic" in a bad way. it's never annoying or too big of a deal but like i wish she wouldn't describe people as "bodies" i know it has an academic pedigree but saying that "bodies" are imprisoned is dehumanising and dulls the emotional impact ( )

Overall I think this book was great. I really liked how the author discussed the history of American prisons, and how they form the latest link in a chain that includes segregation and Jim Crow laws, the Black Codes of the South, and ultimately slavery. Her point about how people of power - white people - could not imagine a different system for dealing with crime/"crime" than what was in place during their lives, and how these systems did ultimately change, is useful to keep in mind when thinking about prisons and crime in America.

However, I have a major problem with this book.

The author never gives adequate answers to the question of what to do when someone commits a crime. Throughout the book she discusses how we as a society need to become less racist, less sexist, and less discriminatory against poor people, and that this will prevent crime. The final chapter is titled 'Abolitionist Alternatives', and where one imagines she will finally elaborate on true ideas for prison alternatives. But no - in fact she chastises the reader for thinking that there should be a punishment when a crime is committed. The author then goes on to rehash her opinions that better education and job opportunities will make prisons obsolete, and then offers the well-worn ideas that making drug and prostitution legal will also make prisons obsolete.

What about those crimes that are truly crimes, like murder? She suggests that we enact some sort of reparative or restorative justice. Her example of this is of a murder in South Africa of a white American woman (an anti-apartheid activist) by a crowd of black South Africans. Her convicted murderers said they were sorry during the Peace and Reconciliation Commissions, and were eventually given cushy instructor/administrative jobs. That's all that happened when these people took away a person's life, and the author would like America to emulate this setup. I cannot agree with her because I think that we owe more to the victims and the victims' loved ones than a simple sorry.

So aside from my major problem with this book, I feel like this is an excellent read. ( )

Really well written book by Angela Davis, it's fairly short, lays out all the arguments in a great way, and is highly educational. It explains the prison-industrial complex from top to bottom, from it's beginnings (a system to oppress freed slaves) to it's place in modern society (a system to oppress poor people and minorities, while being extremely profitable).

Her goal is ultimately a system that focuses on healing and support, rather than oppression and isolation. ( )

This was the suggested read for March for #LansingReads22, and since I had so loved Freedom is a Constant Struggle, I decided to actually go with the suggested title for once and ordered it. (Then got sidetracked for no good reason and didn't finish it it time to take part in the discussion anyway.)

Davis is brilliant, of course and this is a concise examination of the problem with prisons -- historically and how that got us to now. This seems like it would be an excellent jumping off point for someone new to reading/thinking about abolition. She asks tough questions, but this is just the start of a long and difficult conversation. (An excellent one, at that.) ( )