Truthout
Abolition
![People display signs outside of a jail](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/08/2021_0824-prison-abolition-400x300.jpg)
Don’t Just “Close” Prisons — Demolish Them and Reinvest Their Funding
A “closure” sometimes means the use of prisons as training sites that perpetuate oppression elsewhere.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/08/SEG3-Ilhan-Police-2-400x300.jpg)
Rep. Ilhan Omar Backs Ballot Initiative That Would Abolish Minneapolis Police
The ballot initiative would replace the city's police department with a new “Department of Public Safety.”
![San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, California, on December 14, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/07/GettyImages-1301483158-400x300.jpg)
Incarcerated Organizers Call for Mass Actions in August to Abolish Prisons
This Black August, incarcerated organizers are calling on supporters to step up in the spirit of abolition.
![Police in riot gear get in formation to abuse the citizenry](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/07/2021_0726-police-400x300.jpg)
Policing “Hate” Supposedly Protects People — But It Really Fuels More Violence
The expansion of the “hate” frame fuels repression. Fortunately, grassroots opposition is growing.
![An illustration of three figures against a white and purple striped background in various religious garb.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/07/2021_0726-religion-400x300.jpg)
Say Your Prayers, Conservatives! Prison Abolitionists Are Reclaiming Faith.
While conservatives promote more state violence, religious people of different faiths are doing radical liberatory work.
![INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence march](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/07/2021_0716-incite-protest-400x300.jpg)
To Abolish Prisons and Militarism, We Need Anti-Imperialist Abolition Feminism
Abolition begins with dismantling the heterosexist, racial and imperial framework of the military and prison industries.
!["Abolition Amendment" Could End Loophole That Allows Forced Labor in Prisons](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/07/SEG2-Prison-Labor-1-400x300.jpg)
“Abolition Amendment” Could End Loophole That Allows Forced Labor in Prisons
The legislation would address the 13th Amendment's clause allowing involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/06/SEG1-Maya-Keeley-Split-400x300.jpg)
Maya Schenwar Says Defunding the Police Might Have Saved Her Sister’s Life
Schenwar says her sister’s death came after a long cycle of criminalization, making her chances of recovery much harder.
![Prisoners work in the laundry room at Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility in Santee, California, on April 22, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1210676459-400x300.jpg)
Organizers Are Calling on Congress to Close Loophole That Enables Prison Slavery
The #EndTheException campaign is calling for an amendment that would strike the slavery clause from the 13th Amendment.
![Black Lives Matter protesters march on the anniversary of the death of George Floyd, in Brooklyn, New York, on May 25, 2021.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2021/06/GettyImages-1233109891-400x300.jpg)
To End Racial Capitalism, We Will Need to Take On the Institution of Policing
Activists who are working to defund the police are also part of a collective struggle to end neoliberal capitalism.