Are Prisons Obsolete?

The current abolition movement in American society is the abolition of the prison system, and Angela Y. Davis has made the case for it with her signature brilliance, elegance, and radical daring. There have been several abolitionist movements in American history, as she very well points out, and although they were involved in these battles, their prospects of winning were almost unimaginable. The eradication of slavery was a mirage for many American generations. In a similar vein, decades passed as the deeply ingrained system of racial segregation persisted, with few foreseeing its eventual departure from tradition. Following formal slavery, the cruel, exploitative, and often profitable convict-lease system brought millions of dollars to southern states while causing unimaginable suffering for tens of thousands of men and women. Few people anticipated that it would disappear from American prisons. With skill, Davis explains how social movements changed these political, social, and cultural structures and rendered these practices unsustainable.

Professor Davis aims to demonstrate in Are Prisons Obsolete? that the jail system's usefulness is running out. She makes a strong case for "decarceration" and the radical change of society at large.