Are Prisons Obsolete? (Open Media Series)

by Angela Y. Davis

The turn toward increased repression in a prison system, distinguished from the beginning of its history by its repressive regimes, caused some journalists, public intellectuals, and progressive agencies to oppose the growing reliance on prisons to solve social problems that are actually exacerbated by mass incarceration.

What societal interest is served by prisoners who remain illiterate? What social benefit is there in ignorance? How are people corrected while imprisoned if their education is outlawed? Who profits (other than the prison establishment itself) from stupid prisoners?65

The Last Graduation,

Prisoners very early recognized the fact that they needed to be better educated, that the more education they had, the better they would be able to deal with themselves and their problems, the problems of the prisons and the problems of the communities from which most of them came.

There are currently more people with mental and emotional disorders in jails and prisons than in mental institutions.

They are sent to prison, not so much because of the crimes they may have indeed committed, but largely because their communities have been criminalized.