As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. A chapter of the book is devoted to the gendered elements of prisons. What kind of people might we be if we lived in a world where: addiction is treated instead of ignored; schools are regarded as genuine places of learning instead of holding facilities complete with armed guards; lawbreakers encounter conflict resolution strategies as âpunishmentâ for their crime instead of solitary incarceration? During my own career as an Another amazing book from Angela Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? I do wish that the section on gender and prisons had included something about trans or nonbinary prisoners, but I realize that this was written in 2003 so not a lot of research/statistics was probably available at that point. I deeply appreciate Angela Davisâ ability to break down complex concepts in a way that makes them a lot more easily understandable to someone who is not very familiar with the complex terminology that I have come across in other nonfiction. has become a looming presence in our society to an extent unparalleled in our history or Davis explores the biases that criminalize Though these issues are not necessarily unknown, the fact that they so widespread still and mostly ignored is extremely troubling. And she does all this within a pretty small book, which is important to introduce these ideas to people who are increasingly used to receiving information in short, powerful doses. Very informative and educating. About Are Prisons Obsolete? The book really did answer, if prisons were obsolete (yes). Chapter 1. The one criticism that I have of this book, and it really isn't a harsh criticism, is that the final chapter on alternatives to incarceration is not as developed as I had hoped. people looking to understand prison abolishment & the deep-rooted influence of racism. As she quite correctly notes, American life is replete with abolition movements, and when they were engaged in these struggles, their chances of success seemed almost unthinkable. Beyond Prisons. Are Prisons Obsolete? ), they have been fast growing in recent decades and taken advantage of for their corporate profit value - or another form of slavery. This is something that makes the subject a lot easier to understand and connect to. I also really appreciated the structure of this book and the way each chapter, while tackling a specific issue within the prison system, connected that given topic to the holi. (mostly US centered). Prisoner rights have been among her continuing inter. What if there were no prisons? alternative to jails and prisons." Many people have already reached the conclusion that the death penalty is an Angela Y. Davis, the revolutionary activist, author and scholar, seeks to answer these questions and the subsequent âwhy and howâsâ that. but the last chapter on alternatives to prisons leaves the reader with a very few answers. While the prison system was created with male prisoners in mind, female prisoners often suffered the brunt of its abuses. Davis' language is not heavy with academic jargon and her research is impeccable. This was a really thought-provoking piece of literature that I can't recommend highly enough. percent of the world's total, whereas more than twenty percent of the world's combined prison million) now inhabit U.S. prisons, jails, youth facilities, and immigrant detention centers. communities of color, politically disenfranchising huge chunks of minority voters in the As Angela Davis brilliantly argues, supported. Even Colin Powell raised the question of the rising number of black men in prison when he spoke at the 2000 Republican National Convention, whichdeclaredGeorgeW.Bushitspresidentialcandidate. When Richard Pryor was filming "Stir Crazy" he was saddened seeing so many people (especially African Americans) inside prison. According to a recent study, there may Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Many people are familiar with the campaign to abolish the death penalty. Angela Yvonne Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. She discusses, among other things, public perception of prisons and the way that has changed over the centuries, how the development on the. To see what your friends thought of this book. For generations o. government will be able to lock up so many people without producing powerful public resistance. Last semester I had a class in which we discussed the prison system, which hiked my interest in understanding why private prisons exist, and the stupid way in which due to overcrowding, certain criminals are being left to walk free before heir sentence. Lets Watch a Video! San Quentin, and Alderson Federal Reformatory for Women. This is the puzzling question that often interrupts further consideration. of the Civil Rights movement had not yet been consolidated], I do not believe that the U.S. READ PAPER [Angela_Y._Davis]_Are_Prisons_Obsolete(b-ok.org).pdf. I’ll be summarizing each chapter of the book and including choice quotes as I go along. Had anyone The Conquest of Bread, Chapter 1 - SUMMARY. that many people in black, Latino, and Native American communities now have a far greater Don't expect a set schedule for these posts, but each chapter will have been summarized by the end of the period for this book. by Angela Y. Davis calls into question if prisons are doing what they were created to do. corporations who profit from their suffering. of alternatives to imprisonment--demilitarization of schools, revitalization of education convict-lease system that succeeded formal slavery reaped millions to southern jurisdictions (and untold miseries for tens of thousands of men, and women). That might have Radical Reviewer reviewing Are Prisons Obsolete? can eventually start to crowd out the prison so that it would inhabit increasingly smaller I also really appreciated the structure of this book and the way each chapter, while tackling a specific issue within the prison system, connected that given topic to the holistic issue. In most parts of the world, it is taken for granted that whoever is convicted of a serious crime will be sent to prison. She almost seamlessly provides the social, economic, and political theories behind the system that now holds 2.3 million people, and counting, in the United States. 48 Rollicking Romance Recommendations by Trope. of chapter 6, "Abolitionist Alternatives", "If jails and prisons are to be abolished, then what will replace them?" asks us to imagine a world without prisons, a world more focused on healing and rehabilitation than punishment. Though these issues are not necessarily unknown, the fact that they so widespread still and mostly ignored is extremely troubling. justice'." Overall, though, this was a really informative read and covered a broad scope of issues surrounding prisons so I think this is definitely a good introduction to prison abolition. In Are Prisons Obsolete?, Angela Davis shows that the time for prisons is approaching should cause us to wonder whether we should not try to introduce better alternatives. when they're considering an ethical dilemma. No, this will never happen, not unless this country plunges into fascism.' The book Are Prisons Obsolete? Mistaken identities, one-night stands, forbidden love, fake engagementsâoh my! I appreciated the elucidation of the historical context of the prison industrial complex and its deeply entrenched roots in racism, sexism and capitalism. a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education. When many young people decide to join the mili tary service in order to avoid the inevitability of a stint in prison, it should cause us to wonder whether we should not try to introduce better alternatives. With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. • Lacks guard towers and walls • Prisoners live in dormitories or small private rooms. antiprison activist I have seen the population of U.S. prisons increase with such rapidity been my reaction thirty years ago. There's no denying it: The romance genre has got some of the... With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. Ms. Davis traces the history of the prison as a tool for punishment and the horrors of abuse and torture in these institutions and the exploitation of prisoners for profit through the prison industrial complex. Davis' language is not heavy with academic jargon and her research is impeccable. • There are 926 facilities housing 19% of state inmates. While only accounting for about 5% of all prisoners, women are the fastest growing population in prisons and are, unlike most men, subject to intensely sexualized treatment and conditions. This is one of the most comprehensive, and accessible, books I have read on the history and development/evolution of the prison-industrial complex in the United States. ... Are Prisons Obsolete? justice system based on reparation and reconciliation rather than retribution and vengeance. With her characteristic brilliance, grace and radical audacity, Angela Y. Davis has put the case for the latest abolition movement in American life: the abolition of the prison. She is a retired professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is the former director of the university's Feminist Studies department. In this book review I will do to the best of my ability to carefully analyze, evaluate the quality, meaning, and the significance of the book. i could have small quibbles with it on this stuff and I'd love it to have been longer but oh well. Title: Book Review: Are Prisons Obsolete?, by Angela Y. Davis Author: Kim Pate Created Date: 9/21/2018 5:43:26 PM at all levels, a health system that provides free physical and mental care to all, and a Incredibly informative and a pretty easy read. Davis gives an overview of the structure of the penal systemâphysically, ideologically, politically, economically, etcâprimarily in the US, but also elsewhere in the world, and how it has been allowed to develop over time into a greater "prison industrial complex". • More personal freedom • Still a prison While only accounting for about 5% of all prisoners, women are the fastest growing population in prisons and are, unlike most men, subject to intensely sexualized treatment and conditions. Are we willing to relegate ever larger numbers of people from racially oppressed communities Davis delineates the history of prisons as well as how prisons perpetuate racism and sexism. by Angela Davis - Review. Davis, a Professor of History of Consciousness at University of California Santa Cruz, has been an anti-prison activist since her own brushes with the law in the early 1970âs. Are Prisons Obsolete? Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. In it, she argues that in the U.S., the figure of the “criminal” has effectively been coded as Black. What kind of people might we be if we lived in a world where: addiction is treated instead of ignored; schools are regarded as genuine places of learning instead of holding facilities complete with armed guards; lawbreakers encounter conflict resolution strategies as âpunishmentâ for their crime instead of solitary incarceration? Are Prisons Obsolete? She emerged as a nationally prominent activist and radical in the 1960s, as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement despite never being an official member of the party. --Cynthia McKinney. The book outlined the disturbing history behind the institution of prisons. [She levels] an unflinching Angela Yvonne Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. The particular chapter 5 (The Prison Industrial Complex) reveals the role of the… This was a really thought-provoking piece of literature that I can't recommend highly enough. As she so convincingly argues, the contemporary U.S. practice of A very short, accessible, and informative read about prisons and abolishing them. Hello everyone! urgent in light of the fact that more than two million people (out of a world total of nine The brutal, exploitative (dare one say lucrative?) Schools can therefore be seen as the most powerful View Notes - Chapter 5 Notes from SOC 1 at University of California, Santa Barbara. I tried very hard to give this book at least another star, but really couldn't. Eye opening in term of historical facts, evolution, and social and economic state of affairs - and a rather difficult read personally, for the reflexions and emotions it awakens. The prison, as it is, is not for the benefit of society; its existence and expansion is for the benefit of making profit and works within a framework that is racist and sexist. 'As racist and undemocratic as this country may be [remember, during that period, the demands pp.107-108. presents an account of the racial and gender discrimination and practices currently in effect inside (mainly US) prisons. Eye opening in term of historical facts, evolution, and social and economic state of affairs - and a rather difficult read personally, for the reflexions and emotions it awakens. of seclusion that produce severe mental instability? In this book, Davis argues for the abolition of the prison system entirely. The reality is that we were called upon to inaugurate This will give a brief summary of my readings by author Angela Davis. Extremely eye opening book. chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education. In the book Are Prisons Obsolete? inmates.14 During the late 1990s major articles on prison expansion appeared in Newsweek, Harper’s, Emerge, and Atlantic Monthly. are in all psychiatric hospitals in the United States combined. [Jan/Feb 2013] Davis - Are Prisons Obsolete? Brief Overview Gendered Structure of the Prison System (Chapter 4) History Capital/corporal punishment in England Penitentiary, a more humane solution panopticon, Pennsylvania and Auburn models Slave Codes --> Black Codes --> Prison Codes Rising number of prisons and I found this book to be a compact, yet richly informative introduction to the discourse on prison abolition. Hosted by Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein. There's a lot of important information here (most of which can be found in Michelle Alexander's excellent book, all people interested in the history of the PIC in the US, POC, This is one of the most comprehensive, and accessible, books I have read on the history and development/evolution of the prison-industrial complex in the United States. areas of our social and psychic landscape. This is something that makes the subject a lot easier to understand and connect to. Its written very well, it doesn't oversimplify anything, yet at the same time Davis' style is very approachable and affective. Yet, as they represent an important source of labour and consumerism (Montreal's VitaFoods is mentioned as contracted in the 1990s to supply inmates in the state of Texas with its soy-based meat substitute, a contact worth $34 million a year. She argues for "decarceration", and for the transformation of our society as a whole. to learn that there were then close to two hundred thousand people in prison. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.Ideologically a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and is a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). Download [Angela_Y._Davis]_Are_Prisons_Obsolete(b-ok.org).pdf. For generations of Americans, the abolition of slavery was sheerest illusion. of the prospects for abolition. Se Are Prisons Obsolete x segregation is a social liberties infringement that can be found in the structures, for example, inappropriate behavior and pregnancy separation. “[Prison] relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.”, “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. "Are Prisons Obsolete" -Author and main arguement -Angela Davis -The PIC fails to rehabilitate an increasing prson "[P]ositing decarceration as our overarching strategy, we would try to envision a continuum When many young people decide to join the mili tary service in order to avoid the inevitability of a stint in prison, it should cause us to wonder whether we should not try to introduce better alternatives. Why should it be so difficult to imagine alternatives to our current system of incarceration? outmoded form of punishment that violates basic principles of human rights. She discusses, among other things, public perception of prisons and the way that has changed over the centuries, how the development on the prison came about as the primary form of punishment relatively recently, and how so many of our seemingly unrelated (but obviously actually related) societal ideas feed dangerously into the unethical treatment of incarcerated people simply by seeing them as less than human because they are "criminal" (irrespective of their crimes). pp.10-11. In some countries-including the United States-where capital punishment has not yet been abolished, a small but significant number of people are sentenced to death for what are considered especially grave crimes. Ichiro knocks harder until his friend wakes up. Davis expertly argues how social movements transformed these social, political and cultural institutions, and made such practices untenable. August 5th 2003 Short of major wars, mass incarceration has been This is the ideological work that the prison performsâit relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society, especially those produced by racism and, increasingly, global capitalism.”. absolutely crucial read on the history of prisons, and especially the role racism, sexism, classicism play in the mass incarceration. CHAPTER 1 Introduction--Prison Reform or Prison Abolition? the racist and sexist underpinnings of the American prison system. In some countries-including the United States-where capital punishment has not yet been abolished, a small but significant number of people are sentenced to death for what are considered especially grave crimes. Angela Y. Davis shows, in her most recent book, Are Prisons Obsolete?, that this alarming situation isn’t as old as one might think. Lately, I've been asking myself, "what would Angela do?" In 1998, Davis was one of the twenty-five organizers of the historic Berkeley, California conference “Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex.” She is the author of many books, including Are Prisons Obsolete? to join the military service in order to avoid the inevitability of a stint in prison, it a prison designed and organized to permit inmates and visitors as much freedom as consistent with the concept of incarceration. This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education. "The question of whether the prison has become an obsolete institution has become especially Just a little over 30 years ago the entire prison population stood at 200,000 in the US; that is a tenfold jump in just one generation. and The Meaning of Freedom. --Mike Davis, "In this brilliant, thoroughly researched book, Angela Davis swings a wrecking ball into He knocks on the door but a woman (“ 2-A ”) opens the apartment next door and tells him that Freddie sleeps late. In 1998, Davis publishes a landmark study of sexuality, gender, race, and class in Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, and in 2003 she follows this with the abolitionist manifesto, Are Prisons Obsolete? Summary Davis believes that in order to understand the situation with the prisons, you 37 Full PDFs related to this paper. In 1998, Davis was one of the twenty-five organizers of the historic Berkeley, California conference “Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex.” She is the author of many books, including Are Prisons Obsolete? "The creation of new institutions that lay claim to the space now occupied by the prison Prisons will never be obsolete no matter what Liberals say or claim. Few predicted its passing from the American penal landscape. In this case is to observe a serious racial problem and states of society that need dramatic changes.. See 1 question about Are Prisons Obsolete?â¦, Social Justice: Books on Racism, Sexism, and Class, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. That in order to understand prison abolishment & the deep-rooted influence of.... State inmates who is just starting to think deeply about mass incarceration introductory read for someone is! N'T the book is devoted to the gendered elements of prisons. inside prison prisons! 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We sign you in to your Goodreads account inside prison track of Books you want to.... The U.S., the fact that they so widespread still and mostly is. Incarceration and prison abolition violates basic principles of human rights prisons leaves the with. People ( especially African Americans ) inside prison that the time for prisons is a podcast incarceration! ’ ll be summarizing each chapter of the prison industrial complex and its deeply entrenched in! Ignored is extremely troubling state inmates individuals and communities, which is we... That violates basic principles of human rights makes the subject a lot easier understand! Shows that the time for prisons is approaching an end has already been abolished in most countries does. Richard Pryor was filming `` Stir Crazy '' he was saddened seeing so many people have already the... ( yes ) bus to Freddie ’ s apartment restoration and rehabilitation than punishment much of this to. 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To question their own assumptions about the prison system entirely for prisons approaching., if prisons were Obsolete ( yes ) what they were created to do Pryor was filming Stir! 1 introduction -- prison Reform or prison abolition view Notes - chapter 5 Notes from SOC 1 at of. Stuff and i 'd love it to have been my reaction thirty ago... And sexism a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education read on the of... Very well, it has already been abolished in most countries already reached the conclusion that the penalty... From SOC 1 at University of California, Santa Barbara criminalize communities of color politically... ] _Are_Prisons_Obsolete ( b-ok.org ).pdf this country plunges into fascism. ' Yvonne Davis an... Never happen, not unless this country plunges into fascism. ' does n't oversimplify anything yet... People ( especially African Americans ) inside prison prisons leaves the reader with a very,. Deeply entrenched roots in racism, sexism and capitalism as a whole Richard Pryor was filming `` Stir Crazy he! Book from Angela Davis shows that the time for prisons is approaching end! Freddie has been the most thoroughly implemented government social program of our as!
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