democracy & power
The Canary in the Coal Mine
A number of factors—including a willingness of law enforcement to collude with federal authorities—make Los Angeles a distressing bellwether of a country succumbing to authoritarianism.
TOPICS
Institutions & Practices
UNDERSTANDING HOW CARCERALISM OPERATES
164 posts in ‘Institutions & Practices’
first person
Never Forget Attica Day
Decades of policy failures, including a culture of impunity for correctional officers, have eroded many of the gains that the Attica uprising’s incarcerated leaders fought and died to secure.
A closer look
The Dystopia of the World’s Tallest Jails
New York City’s plan to replace Rikers with skyscraper jails is a cautionary tale of how decarceral talking points can be misappropriated.
Life Inside
Reclaiming Health Worthiness
Faced with often deadly medical neglect, incarcerated women form networks of care that provide the life-sustaining support the state fails to give.
first person
108 Degrees
Eight Virginia prisons currently have no air-conditioning. We go to sleep in sweat and wake up in sweat, with no respite from dangerous heat.
A closer look
Not Fit for Human Consumption
Prisons serve bad, inadequate food as a way to cut costs. Providing this inhumane service is now a profitable sector of Wall Street.
Policing
Injured, Not Dead
After Jason Salters was violently attacked by NYPD officers simply for doing his job, he discovered how little accountability exists for non-fatal incidents of police violence.
interventions
More Violence at the Door
Domestic violence survivors shouldn’t have to survive police violence, too. It is time to follow the evidence to interventions that actually work.
public health
Punished for Getting Sick
Prisons are sites of pervasive medical neglect, both creating and worsening disability. Never was this more the case than during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Depth
Just Learning
Incarcerated people are eligible for Pell Grants again—but will prisons actually allow us to flourish as college students?
In Depth
Turning Death into a Commodity
ShotSpotter has leveraged gun violence into a multimillion-dollar business that promises safety but delivers only increased policing and drain on the public’s resources.
first person
What’s in a Name?
Being forced by prison authorities to publish anonymously caused me to reflect on the long history of Black authors choosing names in response to state violence.
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.
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.
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.
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.
books
Freeing the Mind
An incarcerated researcher explores how childhood trauma often shapes the lives of those in prison.
system actors
Decarceral Counseling
Defense lawyers should be open to advising their clients about systemic oppression, laying bare the ways that mass incarceration ensnares.
first person
Stripped of Dignity
The routinized violence of prison strip searches robs incarcerated men of their health, sexuality, and so much more.
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.
excerpt
No Refuge
Many women escaping violence in their home countries find themselves trapped in the formal violence of the asylum system.
interventions
The President and the Police
A second Trump presidency may render police accountability elusive. But, as before, people and communities can and will fight back.
A closer look
No More Shame
Sex offender–specific treatment can leave you feeling humiliated. Or it can ground you, help you grow, and remind you of your worth.