Truthout
The Road to Abolition
Exploring abolition — both in imagination and in practice — and the movement toward a more liberated future.
![The Road to Abolition](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/07/2020_0629-police-badge-broken-1200x675.jpg)
Series Introduction
Amid this galvanizing moment of uprisings and calls to defund the police, Truthout has gathered together some of our most important work on the abolition of policing and prisons. For a decade, we’ve been documenting this work and the ideas behind it. In this feature, we’ve gathered together some recent and past pieces that can help us to envision abolition — both the imagination and the practice of it — and move together toward a more liberated future.
![The Ash Street Jail in New Bedford, Massachusetts, believed to be the oldest continuously operating jail in the country, pictured on February 2, 2024.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-2035575150-400x300.jpg)
Massachusetts’ Proposed Prison Moratorium Is a First Step Toward Abolition
A bill to halt the construction of new prisons and jails provides a way forward for decarceration.
![Michael Broadway, who died on June 19 at Stateville Correctional Center, excelled at educating himself in prison, graduating with a degree from Northwestern University. In this photo, taken at Stateville’s study hall in summer 2022, Broadway (left) stands with fellow student Michael Simmons.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/07/DSC08858-2-400x300.jpg)
I Watched My Neighbor Die a Preventable Death Due to Scorching Heat in Prison
Breathing was hard for all of us in the heat. I screamed for help when he collapsed but it didn’t come soon enough.
![Avis Lee holds a banner for Let's Get Free, the Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee which helped with her fight for freedom and with which she now organizes to free others.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/05/AvisLee-400x300.jpg)
“To Be Free Is to Free Others”: Formerly Incarcerated Women Urge Decarceration
The fight to free women and end mass incarceration is long and ongoing, but these activists aren’t giving up.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2131329694-400x300.jpg)
We Can’t Trade a Path to Legalization in Exchange for More Border Militarization
Author Silky Shah says immigration enforcement and the prison-industrial complex are intertwined systems of oppression.
![An exterior view of FCI Dublin](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/04/2024_0416-fci-dublin-400x300.jpg)
Prison Notorious for Rape Is Slated for Closure But Not Releasing Survivors
The Bureau of Prisons initially planned to empty FCI Dublin by April 19. Those inside fear being sent far from family.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0665-400x300.jpeg)
Dispatch From a Missouri Execution: A Microcosm of the US Death Penalty Fight
The state-sponsored execution of Brian Dorsey on April 9 marked the fifth death row killing in the US this year.
![A protester holds a sign naming Nicholas Lee as a victim of Chicago policing during an outdoor demonstration](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/01/2023_0103-cpd-400x300.jpg)
Chicago Police Department Perpetuates Its Violence by Punishing Whistleblowers
Police violence is not about “good apples” and “bad apples” -- it is structural.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/2023_1206-prison-cattle-400x300.jpg)
Prison Treats Me Like an Animal. I Write to Reclaim My Humanity.
I’ve been confined for 27 years to a concrete box, and prison staff treat me like an animal branded with a number.
![A digital illustration of four women, somewhat huddled and silhouetted against a sunrise, fostering ten small stars hovering above their hands. The Southern Cross constellation can be seen in the sky behind them.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/12/2023-1226-sisters-inside-400x300.jpg)
Abolition Is a Global Movement. Here’s What We Learned From Allies Worldwide.
To make abolition possible, grassroots groups of people directly impacted by incarceration must mobilize globally.
![A protester holds a sign reading "GOVERNOR: WHILE YOU WAIT PEOPLE DIE" during an outdoor demonstration](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/11/2023_1204-opioid-newyork-400x300.jpg)
In New York, Inadequate Treatment Is Turning Drug Arrests Into Death Sentences
Deaths related to detoxification at a Syracuse jail show why jail is still not the place to address the opioid crisis.