Abolition Democracy

Comprehension

Before engaging in critical analysis and applying abolition democracy as outlined by Davis, we must first make sure we understand what she is saying.

Take the following questions and answer them in your own words. When doing so, try to limit the number of sentences you use and aim to explain these concepts succinctly. To double-check your work, or if you are truly stuck, you may visit the summary sections that address the question.

1. What is the prison-industrial complex? Describe its history related to slavery and Jim Crow, and its present as it relates to the military-industrial complex.

2. How does the prison-industrial complex work? 

   1. What is ritual violence?

   2. How does the prison-industrial complex disenfranchise the Black community?

   3. How does the prison-industrial complex prevent the Black community from flourishing?

3. What societal assumptions are present that justify the ‘need’ for prisons?

4. What are Davis’s critiques of the need for prisons?

5. How do the prison- and military-industrial complexes practice…

   1. Torture?

   2. Sexual coercion?

   3. Extraordinary rendition?

6. What is prison abolition? What is abolition democracy?

7. What advice does Davis have for abolition democracy activists?

Praxis

Abolition Organizations

A plethora of resources articulate the prison-industrial complex Davis describes, including but not limited to the following. 

• Resources provided by Davis’s organization Critical Resistance

• Resources provided by Black Lives Matter’s 8 to Abolition movement

• Resources provided by MPD150, a police abolition group based in Minneapolis, MN

As you learn more about abolition, it is also important to consider how you can work towards an abolition democracy. The three aforementioned organizations are all good examples of abolition work in practice. Go through their websites and look for the following:

1. What is their vision?

2. How do they define the prison-industrial complex? 

3. What is their attitude towards reform?

4. What policies do they support?

5. How do they advocate for those policies?

6. What work do they do beyond advocating for policy, if any?

The goal of this exercise is to learn from organizations that are doing the work to either be encouraged to support them or learn lessons that you can apply to your own community. 

Further Research and Activities

• Read this article outlining how global capitalism and the prison-industrial complex are related

• Read any article from The Marshall ProjectThe Marshall Project, a news outlet dedicated to criminal justice

• Find and write to a prison pen pal here or here (before you start, visit this article for advice!)

• Donate to bail funds, which you can identify by searching for “bail funds” on GoFundMe, Twitter, Instagram, and more