With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. Similarly,the entrenched system of racial segregation seemed to last forever, and generations lived in the midst of the practice, with few predicting its passage from custom. The brutal, exploitative (dare one say lucrative?) convict-lease system that succeeded formal slavery reaped millions to southern jurisdictions (and untold miseries for tens of thousands of men, and women). Few predicted its passing from the American penal landscape. Davis expertly argues how social movements transformed these social, political and cultural institutions, and made such practices untenable.In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration", and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.
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Are Prisons Obsolete?
von Angela Y. Davis
With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. Similarly,the entrenched system of racial segregation seemed to last forever, and generations lived in the midst of the practice, with few predicting its passage from custom. The brutal, exploitative (dare one say lucrative?) convict-lease system that succeeded formal slavery reaped millions to southern jurisdictions (and untold miseries for tens of thousands of men, and women). Few predicted its passing from the American penal landscape. Davis expertly argues how social movements transformed these social, political and cultural institutions, and made such practices untenable.In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Professor Davis seeks to illustrate that the time for the prison is approaching an end. She argues forthrightly for "decarceration", and argues for the transformation of the society as a whole.
Aktuelle Rezensionen(2)
Rezension von Ellie Donna TuschAlthough this book was first published in 2003, it still delivers an important message and asks a lot of questions we still need to answer. The book deals with the link between capitalism and the (prison) system of the USA, showing the inhumane treatment and conditions of the phenomenon of mass incarceration. It shows how the inmates of that system are just products for a highly capitalised industry. While only a few percentage of inmates in the US are violent offenders, the most percentage of inmates in the US are immigrants and people who are criminalised for drug addiction. It shows that only rich people make profit out of this prison system and that poor people are victims of that system. Also, the book deals with one important question: Why did we normalise the prison system and why are we still normalising the system, although we know it doesn’t work? Moreover, the book creates an important link between the influence of slavery and the modern prison system, showing that the prison system continues to produce discrimination and methods of violence and torture. The book also creates an important view of the difference between male correctional and female correctional facilities and points out that women are more likely to experience sexual violence and abuse by guards. The book creates important links between the prison system, capitalism and the patriarchy and I highly recommend everyone to read it.
Rezension von valentinoAngela Davis is one of the most intelligent people to ever walk this planet and the she again proved this by how articulate and insightful her take on prison abolition is. She goes through the history of prisons and how it developed out of slavery, takes on the racism and sexism and points out how prisons are capitalist means for profit. She goes into how prisons fail prisoners, aren’t rehabilitating and the part about the end of college courses is especially potent. I can recommend the documentary ‘The Last Graduation’, which Davis also recommends here. She makes a great case here. A phenomenal one, even. And again, it all leads us to the fact that we need a deep and thorough change of our institutions and systems, away from capitalism and everything that comes with it. I can truly recommend to read this. It’s just over 100 pages and the was Davis makes her points is a pleasure to read.