Truthout
The Road to Abolition
Exploring abolition — both in imagination and in practice — and the movement toward a more liberated future.
Series Introduction
In this space, Truthout has gathered together some of our most important work on the abolition of policing and prisons. For a decade and a half, we’ve been documenting this work and the ideas behind it. In this feature, we’ve collected 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.
Formerly Incarcerated Women Are Building a Global Network to Fight Imprisonment
Women from 17 different countries are working together to coordinate the global struggle against mass incarceration.
Former Prisoner’s New Book Offers Rare Look Into Nation’s Most Secretive Prison
Having survived the most restrictive supermax prison in the country on a trumped-up charge, Eric King tells what he saw.
Black Abolitionists Lead Resistance to Trump’s Use of Federal Police and ICE
Black-led abolitionist community defense groups are organizing against Trump’s efforts to target DC and Chicago.
In Black August, We Turn Destructive Spaces Into Laboratories for Liberation
This is not just a month of mourning — it's a time for mobilization and recommitment to prison abolition.
I Survived a Deadly Disease in Prison. No One Else Should Have To Face It.
Valley fever disproportionately impacts people targeted by mass incarceration. California can move to prevent this harm.
8 Prisons in Virginia Lack AC in 108-Degree Heat. I Am Stuck in One of Them.
My bunk gets sweaty when I lay it in. The walls sweat, too — you can see it. We're in an oven. It's too hot.
Prison Is Designed to Make Fatherhood Impossible
Connections with caregivers are key for children’s well-being, but the prison system is designed to tear families apart.
“Bending the Bars” Rap Album Fights Damaging Stereotypes of Incarcerated People
“Bending the Bars” rips away bipartisan propaganda by letting incarcerated artists speak their truth.
I Wrote This From Solitary Confinement. I Refuse to Let It Break Me.
“The hole” is a prison within a prison, where I’m just another number without a name.
Having Survived Solitary, I Refuse to Conflate the Imaginable With the Possible
White supremacy might limit what we can easily imagine, but through writing, we can shape more liberatory futures.