How Books are Used to Perpetuate the Prison Industrial Complex

The situation concern analyzable is simply a word you whitethorn person heard if you’ve looked into abolitionist reasoning oregon learned astir the contexts astir societal movements similar Black Lives Matter. It’s a word that, arsenic defined by abolition radical Critical Resistance, describes “overlapping interests of authorities and manufacture that usage surveillance, policing, and imprisonment arsenic solutions to economic, societal and governmental problems.” While the conception of the situation concern analyzable covers a immense fig of societal structures, you’ll astir often perceive it utilized successful discussions astir wide incarceration, for-profit prisons, and however criminalising and imprisoning radical benefits the affluent and almighty (particularly politicians and CEOs) portion doing thing to tackle oregon forestall harm that takes spot wrong nine astatine large.

The word “prison concern complex” was coined by academic, activist, and erstwhile incarcerated idiosyncratic Angela Y. Davis, writer of Are Prisons Obsolete? Other writers person besides provided almighty critiques of the situation concern complex, specified arsenic Michelle Alexander with The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration successful the Age of Colorblindness, Elizabeth Hinton with From the War connected Poverty to the War connected Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration successful America, and galore less formalised writings from abolitionist groups and activists.

There has been a large woody of penning and lit astir the situation concern analyzable — but are books 1 of the structures supporting the strategy itself?

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In galore books, including children’s literature, situation is adjacent played for laughs. The Wind successful the Willows sees Mr. Toad imprisoned for 20 years for anti-social behaviour, peculiarly his unsafe driving; helium aboriginal escaped by dressing arsenic a washerwoman. (You could reason that the astir fantastical happening astir The Wind successful the Willows is the thought that a rich, socially almighty playboy would look superior situation clip for driving excessively fast, alternatively of his wrongdoing being dismissed arsenic “affluenza.”)

Throughout the bulk of literature, prisons are represented arsenic frightening but indispensable institutions that mostly support the nationalist safe, lone harmful erstwhile radical are incarcerated for a transgression they didn’t commit. There is small absorption on, oregon attraction for, the harm that prisons origin to radical who person committed crimes, oregon their harm to nine arsenic a whole. The country of lit that has paid the top magnitude of attraction to the harms of the situation concern analyzable is the situation memoir, but, erstwhile again, the astir palmy examples of these are books by governmental prisoners, oregon radical incarcerated due to the fact that of racism oregon different forms of bigotry, specified arsenic Nelson Mandela oregon the Exonerated Five. These stories are incredibly important, but they besides amusement however incarcerated radical are mostly lone portrayed arsenic sympathetic if the idiosyncratic is “not a existent criminal,” but idiosyncratic who has been done incorrect by the system, alternatively of considering the anticipation that the strategy of imprisonment is itself wrong. “Real criminals” don’t get the aforesaid benignant of sympathy oregon humanisation successful literature, and it is seldom suggested that the situation concern analyzable itself whitethorn beryllium the existent villain.

How Books Break Down the Prison Industrial Complex

Books tin besides beryllium a important portion of breaking down the situation concern complex. Abolitionist non-fiction is an important class of literature, afloat of critical texts and memoirs that marque the lawsuit for an anti-carceral future. Books similar Angela Y. Davis’s Are Prisons Obsolete?, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba, oregon We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice by adrienne maree brownish acceptable retired the lawsuit for antithetic forms of justness that code existent harm and forestall aboriginal harm to nine and the radical who inhabit it.

There are besides galore important pieces of anti-carceral penning that are not published arsenic full-length books, many of which person been collated by abolitionist groups arsenic speechmaking lists. However, determination is acold little fabrication retired determination that imagines a satellite without the situation concern complex. While nonfiction is simply a important portion of gathering and processing immoderate movement, fabrication tin beryllium a much accessible mode for radical to entree ideas and alteration their perspectives. (On a idiosyncratic level, I beryllium a immense chunk of my inclusive and progressive beliefs to the fabrication of Malorie Blackman and Terry Pratchett.) Some fabrication creates worlds with restorative justness and non-carceral options; Pet by Akwaeke Emezi is acceptable successful a utopian aboriginal wherever harms are addressed with assemblage accountability and restorative justice. However, determination are galore much fabrication stories that revolve astir the situation concern analyzable arsenic the lone imaginable option. In bid to alteration this system, we archetypal person to ideate thing better.

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To larn much astir the conflict to guarantee incarcerated radical person entree to books, work our nonfiction connected The Ever-Growing Challenges of Getting Books Into Prisons. To make your cognition connected movements similar abolitionism, effort Beyond the Basics: Books for a Political Education and Liberation.