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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Chicago Police Department Perpetuates Its Violence by Punishing Whistleblowers
Police violence is not about “good apples” and “bad apples” -- it is structural.
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.
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.
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.
I Faced Death by Incarceration. The UN Heard My Plea to Abolish Life Sentences.
The United Nations is calling on the U.S. to abolish life without parole prison sentences.
Police and Prison Guards in Maine Are Committing Abuses With Terrifying Impunity
Maine’s attorney general's office hasn't acknowledged an unjustified use of deadly police force since 1990.