Police and Prison Abolition, an Intro

What does prison abolition have to do with anti-racism? The institutions of policing and prison are inherently racist because the historical origins of these institutions are tied in with the enslavement of people of African descent and Indigenous people, as well as colonization and Indigenous land dispossession. Even in Canada today, Indigenous and Black people are disproportionately policed, arrested, and incarcerated. We cannot be against racism without being for prison abolition. Abolishing prisons can seem like a 'pie-in-sky' idea, but here is a comic strip that summarizes some basic arguments that show how prison abolition is about building support structures not tearing things down (click through to read):

Posted on Medium by Flynn Nicholls

Further reading:

• Defunding The Police - Comprehensive website including information, stats, and research on defunding the police across North America

• Defund.ca - Canada-specific defunding website

• An Indigenous Abolitionist Study Guide

• Prison Abolition in Canada Syllabus

• Prison Abolition in Canada 101 / Q&A (noprisons.ca)

• Upping the Anti - Prison Abolition in Canada

• Amanuel T - Prison Abolition in Canada: Rejecting Incarceration and Historical Revisionism

• End the Prison Industrial Complex (Kingston) - Resources

• Prisoner Correspondence Project (MTL)

• Critical Resistance (US) - What is the Prison Industrial Complex? What is Abolition?

• Prison Abolition - Resources

• Black Perspectives - Prison Abolition Syllabus