Synopsis
From discussions on the range of voices that comprise the movement for prison abolition to demystification of the myths surrounding the justification of imprisonment and practical steps toward breaking free from relying on imprisonment, Instead of Prisons offers organizers and activists a primer for strategy and action in the fight to build a world without prisons.
“This is a collaborative project, one that’s pretty comprehensive in scope, I think, in terms of the issues that it takes up, and it’s meant as a practical organizing tool. One of the central figures here is Fay Honey Knopp… You can clearly see her influence as someone who’s coming out of the Quaker tradition – she has a broadly pacifist orientation… Here you have a figure who is a Christian pacifist and also a feminist, and I think that’s important to emphasize. The people working with her also have a strongly feminist orientation.
I really like the book. It takes up a lot of the things that would occur to people when prison abolition is advocated and tries to respond to many of those objections. It also includes a strong critique of retributivism… It is staunchly opposed to the use of violence, including state violence. I think that’s important here too. It’s against the military, the police, and by extension, the prisons and prison guards as a way of responding to wrongdoing or injustice. We won’t solve these issues with violence, even if it’s state-sanctioned, is the thought.”
—Tommie Shelby, “The Best Books on Prison Abolition” (Five Books)
A reprint of the 1976 classic, with a new introduction from Critical Resistance.
