Abolition of police and prisons
Abolish is to flourish! Against the prison industrial complex and for transformative justice.
See Critical Resistance's definitions below:
The Prison Industrial Complex
The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.
Through its reach and impact, the PIC helps and maintains the authority of people who get their power through racial, economic and other privileges. There are many ways this power is collected and maintained through the PIC, including creating mass media images that keep alive stereotypes of people of color, poor people, queer people, immigrants, youth, and other oppressed communities as criminal, delinquent, or deviant. This power is also maintained by earning huge profits for private companies that deal with prisons and police forces; helping earn political gains for "tough on crime" politicians; increasing the influence of prison guard and police unions; and eliminating social and political dissent by oppressed communities that make demands for self-determination and reorganization of power in the US.
Abolition
PIC abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.
From where we are now, sometimes we can't really imagine what abolition is going to look like. Abolition isn't just about getting rid of buildings full of cages. It's also about undoing the society we live in because the PIC both feeds on and maintains oppression and inequalities through punishment, violence, and controls millions of people. Because the PIC is not an isolated system, abolition is a broad strategy. An abolitionist vision means that we must build models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. It means developing practical strategies for taking small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and that lead us all to believe that things really could be different. It means living this vision in our daily lives.
Abolition is both a practical organizing tool and a long-term goal.
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Honestly if I’m ever imprisoned for being homeless and it doesn’t look like there’s a way out, you can be damn sure I’m not going to willingly work. They must provide three meals and a place to sleep and that’s all I will do. At that point I have no home and the carrot of “getting out” isn’t there. You’re not getting my labor for free too.
Prisons will punish inmates who refuse to work. They use the constant threat of solitary confinement as a motivator.
And for those unaware, solitary confinement permanently fucks up your brain hard. We are social creatures and the lack of socialization will make you unable to reintegration into society, and make you more likely to lash out with violence.
It's either forced labor (slavery) or brain damage. Nobody should have to choose between that.
Punish you for not working? Of course not! No we reward you for working by letting you out of solitary.
Work will set you free….
That has a little German flavor and I don't know why.
It's from the concentration camps: "Arbeit macht frei" - "work makes [you] free"
That was the joke
Durch krematorium nummer drei
That's when they retaliate by e.g. putting you in solitary.
Cool cool, still not getting any work out of me. I’ll gladly make it a test of wills.
Is going slowly insane from being in solitary confinement really an improvement over forced labor? Guess it depends on the person.
Yes it definitely does
And more power to you but your the exception and not the rule.
Ya, I'm sure the guards and warden will just accept that without much fuss.
And maybe in 2224, we will sing about you.