poetry
Poetry from Mississippi State Penitentiary
Work from poets incarcerated in Parchman’s Unit 29
poetry
Three poems
“Crying Johnny,” “Officer Judy Gives Instructions to the Lock Down Inmates,” & “Holiday Special Meal”
Beginnings
A Torture Among Tortures
Even in ancient societies not known for their delicacy about violence, solitary confinement stood out as a horror. In our own time we are far less clear-eyed about its violent…
Decarceral Pathways
Just Surviving
Crimes committed because of financial hardship are a form of labor and should not be subject to criminal legal punishment.
racial capitalism
Extracting Police
Violent policing is not a bug of capitalist societies but a feature. To end our dependence on it, we must first understand its connection to exploitation.
interventions
Ending Juvenile Life Without Parole
Convincing New Mexico to stop sentencing children to die in prison required us to let go of “us” versus “them” politics.
Beginnings
When Treatment First Met the Prison
During the mid-twentieth century, the Bureau of Prisons ran two “narcotic farms” that muddled medical care with incarceration, part of a growing trend that criminalized addiction.
Beyond Reform
Pinkwashing Prisons
Efforts to improve incarceration for women ultimately support a system that is worse for all.
first person
39 Years
I rejected a plea deal and chose instead to go to trial. I would not understand until too late that I had placed a target on my back.
Beginnings
Feminisms Against the Carceral State
Seventies-era anti-carceral feminism opposed “tough on crime” policymaking and played an important role in the making of today’s prison abolition movement.
first person
On Aging and Dying in Captivity
This year I passed a grim milestone: I’ve now been in captivity longer than I’d been alive when I was arrested.
Life Inside
Death by Design
There are no good prisons—but even minor design changes could make them less awful to be trapped inside.
In Depth
The Hidden War Fueling New York’s Prison Guard Strike
The deadly labor action can best be understood in the context of white supremacy and class struggle.
book review
Serving City Time
A new book doubles as a detailed chronicle of, and guidebook to, surviving incarceration on New York’s Rikers Island.
In Depth
When Fire Is the Only Way Out
At a far-flung prison in Virginia, conditions are so inhumane that those imprisoned there are setting themselves ablaze in protest—and to assert their humanity.
culture
Punishment TV
We are fighting to end carceral reality TV—including shows such as ‘60 Days In’—because no one should profit from punishment.
democracy & power
Abolition and the Presidency
The Trump administration will assail our movement. That doesn’t change the fact that it looks backward while we look forward.
interventions
A Bridge to Health
Medicaid access, both pre- and post-release, is a promising path to ensuring that reentry is a genuine, lasting return to freedom.
public health
Surviving Abstinence
Abstinence-only drug treatment doesn’t work. For people in prison, where drugs flow freely, such programs simply place them at greater risk of relapse.
Politics
This Is How You Win the Culture Wars
Faced with violence and authoritarianism, survival demands prioritizing relationship building over reactivity, and solidarity over silence.
books
Freeing the Mind
An incarcerated researcher explores how childhood trauma often shapes the lives of those in prison.
A closer look
Almost Anti–Death Penalty
Biden’s incomplete slate of commutations saved lives but ultimately lost the moral argument.
interventions
Becoming Decarceral Jurors
Serving in the jury system, and preserving it, should be a goal for anyone committed to ending the scope and scale of mass incarceration.
system actors
Decarceral Counseling
Defense lawyers should be open to advising their clients about systemic oppression, laying bare the ways that mass incarceration ensnares.
Crimmigration
No Papers, No Fear
A new generation of anti-deportation activists leaves no one behind, fighting to end the harms of the entire punishment industry.
first person
Stripped of Dignity
The routinized violence of prison strip searches robs incarcerated men of their health, sexuality, and so much more.
excerpt
A Nation of Imprisoned Immigrants
Jails have been foundational to immigration enforcement for over a century—and have always operated with a staggering absence of oversight and public awareness.
Beyond Reform
No More Pretrial Punishment
In my many years as a public defender, I accepted the legal rationales for pretrial detention. But I can’t anymore.
In Depth
Beyond Carceral Eugenics
The United States has long treated street and corporate wrongdoing differently. Looking beyond this dichotomy can help us end mass incarceration.
Essay
A Lethal Upbringing
A decade of victimization landed a Harlem kid in prison. More than three decades later, he has not allowed prison to define his life story.