Resources

Introductory Texts

• Why It's Time to Dump Gandhi by Dalit Diva
• Hindu Facism: An All American Threat by Sameena Mustafa and Arti Walker-Peddakotla

Articles

Caste and Abolition

• Tell Me More: Talking Prison Reform and Alternative Forms of Justice With Saumya Dadoo by Aditi Murti
• Carceral Feminism and Ideas of Justice In India by Sanjukta Bose
• South Asians for Abolition: Beyond Gilded Cages by Mon M.
• Imagining India Without Prisons by

Legal

• Casteism in Prisons of India: A 'Violent' Ecosystem by Priyam Mittal
• ‘Castration’ as a hegemonic form of punishment: A Legal History Point of View by Sophy Joseph

Human Rights reports

• “Bound by Brotherhood": India’s Failure to End Killings in Police Custody by Human Rights Watch 
• Hidden Apartheid: Caste Discrimination against India’s "Untouchables" by Human Rights Watch 
• The “Anti-Nationals”: Arbitrary Detention and Torture of Terrorism Suspects in India by Human Rights Watch 

Prison writing

• 13 Years: A Naxalite's Prison Diary by Ramchandra Singh

Introductory Texts

• Introducing Settler Colonial Studies by Lorenzo Veracini
• Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native by Patrick Wolfe

• “A Structure, Not an Event”: Settler Colonialism and Enduring Indigeneity by

  J. Kēhaulani Kauanui

DECARCERATION

• The Case for Prison Abolition: Ruth Wilson Gilmore on COVID-19, Racial Capitalism & Decarceration by Ruth Wilson Gilmore on Democracy Now!
• Three Reasons Advocates Must Move Beyond Demanding Release for “Nonviolent Offenders” by Micah Herskind
• Covid-19 Letter by INQUEST/Women in Prison
• ‘The state will not save us, only we can save us’: a collective response to Covid-19 by Gal-Dem
• Covid-19 Lockdown – Policing the Police by Adam Elliott Cooper and the Monitoring Group
• The Lockdown: Arresting the Virus by Oonagh Ryder and Carl Cattermole
• What is holding back the formation of a global prison abolitionist movement to fight COVID-19 and capitalism? by Frieda Afary and Lara Al-Kateb

MUTUAL AID

• Mutual Aid Incorporated by Josie Sparrow
• What Mutual Aid Can Do During a Pandemic by Jia Tolentino

Introductory Texts

• Brief‌ ‌Overview‌ ‌of‌ ‌Disability‌ ‌Justice‌ by Mia Mingus
• ‌‌Longmore‌ ‌Lecture‌ ‌on‌ ‌Ableism‌ by Talila Lewis
• Carceral‌ ‌Ableism‌ ‌&‌ ‌Disability‌ ‌Justice‌ by Dr. Liate Ben-Moshe and Leroy Moore
• Disability‌ ‌Justice‌ ‌In‌ ‌the‌ ‌Age‌ ‌of‌ ‌Mass‌ ‌Incarceration:‌ ‌Perspectives‌ ‌on‌ ‌Race,‌ Disability,‌ ‌Law‌ ‌&‌ ‌Accountability‌ by Talila Lewis
• In‌ ‌the‌ ‌Fight‌ ‌to‌ ‌Close‌ ‌Rikers,‌ ‌Don’t‌ ‌Forget‌ ‌Deaf‌ ‌and‌ ‌Disabled‌ ‌People‌ by Talila Lewis
• Accountable‌ ‌Reporting‌ ‌on‌ ‌Disability,‌ ‌Race,‌ ‌&‌ ‌Police‌ ‌Violence‌ by Leroy Moore, Jr., Talila Lewis, Lydia Brown
• Meditations on Natural Worlds, Disabled Bodies, and a politics of Cure by Eli Clare

Crip-of-Color Critique

• Reclaiming the Radical Politics of Self-Care: A Crip-of-Color Critique by Jina B. Kim and Sami Schalk

CARE

• We‌ ‌Don’t‌ ‌Need‌ ‌Cops‌ ‌to‌ ‌Become‌ ‌Social‌ ‌Workers:‌ ‌We‌ Need‌ ‌Peer‌ ‌Support‌ ‌+‌ ‌Community‌ ‌Response‌ ‌Networks‌ by Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu

BOOKS

• Decarcerating Disability by Liat Ben-Moshe
• Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Introductory Texts

Articles

• Hidden Hazards:The Impacts of Climate Change on Incarcerated People in California State Prisons by Aishah Abdala, Abhilasha Bhola, Guadalupe Gutierrez, Eric Henderson & Maura O’Neill
• Planting Justice's Prison Abolition Work Starts at the Roots by Nastia Voynovskaya

Audio and Video

• Judi Bari: A Revolutionary Ecology report by Noelle Hanrahan at Prison Radio

History

STATEMENTS

• The‌ ‌Folsom‌ ‌Prisoners‌ ‌Manifesto‌ ‌of‌ ‌Demands‌‌ by the incarcerated people of Folsom Prison
• The Combahee River Collective Statement by the Combahee River Collective
• We‌ ‌Charge‌ ‌Genocide by Chicago activists
• For‌ ‌a‌ ‌World‌ ‌Without‌ ‌Police‌‌ by A World Without Police

SPEECHES

• Free All Black Liberation Fighters by Assata Shakur
• You Can Murder a Liberator, but You Can’t Murder Liberation by Fred Hampton

Books

• Blood in My Eye by George Jackson
• A Soldier's Story: Writings by a Revolutionary New Afrikan Anarchist by Kuwasi Balagoon

DETENTION

• Amnesty‌ ‌or‌ ‌Abolition?‌ by Kelly Lyte Hernandez
• Immigration Detention is Part of Mass Incarceration by Cora Currier
• Why Freedom for Immigrants believes in abolishing immigration detention by Freedom for Immigrants

BOOKS

• Border and Rule by Harsha Walia
• No One Is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence at the U.S.-Mexico Border by Justin Akers Chacón and Mike Davis
• Undoing Border Imperialism by Harsha Walia and Andrea Smith

Introductory Texts

• Allowing the Ancestors to Speak: Radical Indigenism and New/Old Definitions of Identity from Real Indians: Identity and the Survival of Native America by Eva Marie Garroutte
• Introduction: Gendered Geographies and Narrative Markings from Mark My Words: Native Women Mapping Our Nations by Mishuana Goeman

Palestinian Liberation

• Zionist Colonialism is Palestine by Fayez A. Sayegh

Decolonization

• Decolonization is not a Metaphor by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang

Books

• Red Nation Rising by Nick Estes (Kul Wicasa), Melanie K. Yazzie (Diné), Jennifer Nez Denetdale (Diné), David Correia, Radmilla Cody (Diné), and Brandon Benallie (Diné)
• From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i by Haunani Kay Trask

Introductory Texts

RACIAL CAPITALISM

• Racial Capitalism by Global Social Theory
• Intercepted with Jeremy Scahill, The Rebellion Against Racial Capitalism, Historian Robin D.G. Kelley on Racial Capitalism and New Generation of Abolitionists by Robin D.G. Kelley

PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

• Democracy Now! The Left Remakes the World: Amna Akbar on Canceling Rent, Defunding the Police & Where We Go from Here by Amna Akbar
• Dangerous History: What the Story of Black Economic Cooperation Means for Us Today by Keane Bhatt
• Explainer: The Prison Industrial Complex and Modern Slavery by Ronnie Stephens
• Recognizing Racism in the Era of Neoliberalism by Angela Davis
• The Economy of Incarceration by Ruth Wilson Gilmore
• The Societal Impact of the Prison Industrial Complex, or Incarceration for Fun and Profit—Mostly Profit by Alex Friedmann

BOOKS

• Black Marxism by Cedric Robinson
• Golden Gulag by Ruth Wilson Gilmore
• Lockdown America by Christian Parenti

REFORMIST REFORMS

• Liberals, Guns and the Roots of the U.S. Prison Explosion by Naomi Murakawa
• Police “Reforms” You Should Always Oppose by Mariame Kaba
• Chart‌ ‌of‌ ‌Policing‌ ‌Reforms‌ ‌vs‌ ‌Abolitionist‌ ‌Steps‌‌ by Critical Resistance
• The Myth of Liberal Policing by Alex Vitale

NON-REFORMIST REFORMS

• What Abolitionists Do by Dan Berger, Mariame Kaba, and David Stein
• The Tension Between Abolition and Reform by Liat Ben-Moshe
• Abolition not Reformation by Sara Chitseko
• Don’t reform prisons, abolish them by Ruth Wilson Gilmore

BOOKS

• Prison By Any Other Name by Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law

REPRODUCTIVE Justice

Introductory Texts

• Visioning New Futures for Reproductive Justice 2023 by SisterSong

Articles

• Prison Abolition Even For Elizabeth Holmes
• Abolition is Not a One Time Event: Prison Doulas as Catalysts by geunsaeng (olivia) ahn
• Reproductive Rights Behind Bars: Inside One of the Oldest Women’s Prisons in the U.S. by Marty Garbarini

Academic Articles and Issue Briefs

• Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families by Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
• Reproductive Justice in the Prison System by If/When/How
• Advocating for Abolition in Health Law: A Theory and Praxis to Liberate Black Incarcerated Women by Hala Baradi
• Reproductive Justice Disrupted: Mass Incarceration as a Driver of Reproductive Oppression Reproductive Oppression by Chrystal M. Hayes, Carolyn Sufrin, and Jamila B. Perritt
• Blog Series on Reproductive Rights in Prison by Rachel Hart

Prison Writing

• “Literary Vandals”: American Women’s Prison Zines as Collective Autobiography by Olivia Wright

• The Prison Letters of CeCe McDonald by CeCe McDonald and Leo Cardoza 

BOOKS

• Abolition. Feminism. Now. by Angela Davis, Gina Dent, Erica Meiners, and Beth Richie
• Color of Violence: The Incite! Anthology by INCITE
• Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex by Eric Stanley and Nat Smith
• Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis
• Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada by Martha Paynter, Illustrated by Julia Hutt

E-CARCERATION

• Repackaging‌ ‌Mass‌ ‌Incarceration by James Kilgore
• The‌ ‌Newest‌ ‌Jim‌ ‌Crow‌ by Michelle Alexander

BOOKS

• Carceral Capitalism by Jackie Wang

Introductory Texts

• Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics by Cathy J. Cohen

Queer-of-Color Critique

• Black Atlantic, Queer Atlantic: Queer Imaginings of the Middle Passage by Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley

• Stolen from Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic by Qwo-Li Driskill

Books

• Aberrations in Black by Roderick Ferguson

BASICS

• Transformative‌ ‌Justice:‌ ‌A‌ ‌Brief‌ ‌Description by Mia Mingus
• ‌‌Justice‌ ‌In‌ ‌America‌ ‌Episode‌ ‌20:‌ ‌Mariame‌ ‌Kaba‌ ‌And‌ Prison‌ ‌Abolition‌ by Mariame Kaba on Justice in America

CARCERAL FEMINISM

• I don’t want my rapists to go to prison by Lydia Caradonna
• From‌ ‌Carceral‌ ‌Feminism‌ ‌to‌ ‌Transformative‌ ‌Justice‌‌ by Mimi Kim
• ‌‌Against‌ ‌Carceral‌ ‌Feminism‌ by Victoria Law
• Critical‌ ‌Resistance-INCITE‌ ‌Statement‌ ‌on‌ ‌GBV‌ by Critical Resistance and INCITE
• Podcast‌ ‌on‌ ‌Transformative‌ ‌Justice‌ ‌and‌ ‌#MeToo‌‌ by Mariame Kaba
• Building‌ ‌Accountable‌ ‌Communities‌ by Mariame Kaba
• Taking‌ ‌risks:‌ ‌implementing‌ grassroots‌ ‌community‌ ‌accountability‌ by Communities Against Rape and Abuse
• Community‌ ‌Accountability‌ ‌as‌ ‌Pedagogical‌ ‌Strategy‌‌ by Ana Clarissa Rojas
• My‌ ‌friend’s‌ ‌a‌ ‌perp:‌ ‌what‌ ‌do‌ ‌I‌ ‌do?‌‌ by Wesleyan Students for Consent and Communication

BOOKS

• Against Equality: Prisons will not Protect You by Ryan Conrad
• Stories of Transformative Justice by Ruth Moore