Are Prisons Obsolete? (Open Media Series) | 
Tired, by Langston Hughes
It has been a hard week in the US, for those of us who believe the Death Penalty should be abolished. 5 state executions in 7 days.
I am sad, I am tired.
If you have not read the tagged by Angela Davis or The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander I really encourage you to even if you do not live in the states.
pickA dense but tiny read. I am not sure what I was expecting but there is a lot of history of prisons and their creation. I have been flirting with prison abolition the last few years and this was very informative even if I knew some of the information before hand (I took many criminal psychology classes in college which took on things like the penopticon)
It was interesting and unexpected to read about Dickens being anti prison.
pickAngela Davis is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers, she's clear, concise, and engaging. She convincingly lays her argument out, I do wish there was more exploration of alternatives here however.
Some more antiracist reading — prisons are ubiquitous in America and American culture but are they necessary? Have they done any good? Or have they just continued to make life worse for people of color? (Here‘s a hint: you know the answer.)
June Round Up Part 2: Angela Davis‘ book was definitely the most important book I read this month, and it won‘t be the only one in this vein that I‘ll be reading this year. Out of this bunch Little Eyes was definitely the one that blew me away and I loved Ninth House. I‘d say you can skip Catherine House.
“the prison therefore functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers. [the prison] relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and ... capitalism.” — angela davis
pickI find her books challenging to read- in that they are dense and she packs so much information into seemingly small books. In this book, she outlines the history of imprisonment and punishment in America. She speaks on borrowed torture methods from Europe and the slavery-chain gang-current day prison story that has hurt black people at catastrophic levels.
pickI‘m a little embarrassed to say I hadn‘t really put a lot of time into the idea of prison abolishment until recently. I also had the big questions about what do we do with the most violent offenders, but I wasn‘t really considering the millions of other people trapped in prisons around the world. This book is important especially now.
pickIncredible. Each chapter builds on the previous, and the entire argument concludes with a stunning, heartfelt bang. If you can't fathom a society without the prison system, read this! Angela Davis sheds light on why this is a foreign concept to us, explains why we must abolish the prison system, how that would work, and outlines some alternatives. (Recommended related reading: I Can't Breathe by Matt Taibbi, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander)
pickIf your first thoughts at the phrase "prison abolition" are shock and disbelief, please read this book. If you are interested in social justice, please read this book. Angela Davis is amazing. Her argument is precise, clear, and eye opening. 5⭐️
I was doing some gift shopping for a friend's birthday and went to my favorite bookstore in SF, Green Apple. I asked about books set in Barcelona that wasn't Shadow of the Wind (which made me claustrophobic) and I think it's the first time in over 20 years of going there that I was able to stump them!! I was shocked! While I was there, I grabbed these little gems with my tax return money! 📚💸📚
pickIf we've moved passed other racist institutions such as slavery, the jim crow laws/segregation why not the prison industrial complex too? Why not move past a system that exploits race, class, gender, that supports retribution/vengeance, but to one that supports reparation/reconciliation? Terrific.
