Truthout
The Road to Abolition
Exploring abolition — both in imagination and in practice — and the movement toward a more liberated future.
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.
“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.
Martin Sostre’s Life Teaches Us Revolutionary Moments Are Always Upon Us
Sostre laid a foundation for contemporary Black anarchism and prison abolition. A new biography finally tells his story.
Report: US Police Killed Someone Every 6.5 Hours on Average in 2024
Police killings hit a record high last year, with Black and Indigenous people disproportionately targeted.
I’m 1 of More Than 600 People on CA’s Death Row. Newsom Must End Death Penalty.
Twenty-three states have abolished the death penalty. California should join them in ending state-sponsored executions.
Biden Should Go Beyond Commutations for Death Row and Commute Life Sentences Too
It's long past time to repair the harm done by sentencing guidelines that President Biden supported as a senator.
Daniel Penny’s Trial Underscores the Need for Real Systems of Accountability
The criminal legal system isn’t designed to deliver justice for Jordan Neely. Here’s how we can.
Having Pardoned His Son, Biden Faces Pressure to Enact Mass Clemency
Advocates say Biden must repair harm caused by harsh anti-drug and crime laws he championed in the 1980s and '90s.
Abolition Work Shows Us There’s Joy to Be Found Even as the World Is on Fire
Care work and parenting work are not an accessory to abolition — they are core to the struggle itself.