Improvising on Reality
The Roots of Prison Abolition

LZ SAMUELS

Improvising on realityis the key principle underlying the building of a united
left and raising the consciousness of the people. k will give us our tactics.

George Jackson, Blood in My Eye, 1972

The five-day seizure of attica Correctional Failtyinr97rby prisoners held there
‘was pivotal for the development of what can be called prison abolitionist praxis,
‘This poitical approach, at once en analysis and a strategy, held that “prison
reform” was not just insuficient, but also counterpreductive. 1 sought inatead to
remove entirely the system of imprisonment and policing through ¢ revolutionary
trarsfornation that would render such institutions unnecessary, As the rebels at
Attica made clear, abolition involved toth direct confrontation with the prison
.gstem and building alternative practices ta replace confinement and salve the
social problems that the criminal justice system could not

The“Attica rebellion,’ as it was known, also marked the beginning of the end
of the revolutionary prisoners' movement- at least as an item: of nationel atten
tion. Over the previous decade, prisoners had become politicized alongside end as
a part of radical movements of the time. By 1970 mary prisoners across the
country publicly identifeé themselves as revolutionaries organizirg and fighting
for prisoners rights, often leading to confrontations with prison offciale Prison-
ers took control of Attica cn September 9, 1971, aftr a year of rising tensions with
the prison administration, led by newiy forged alliances among lack Panther,
‘Young Lord, Black Muslim, and white radical prisoneis. Meuibets uf hese Boups
and unaffiliated prisoners organized water and blankets for people in the yard
as well as a negotiation team composed of two represertatives from eact: cell
block. The Aitica Brothers, as they came'to be called, wanted improved conditions
and rehcbilitation programs, political and religious freedom, freedom from physi
cal harm, and, in their initial demands, “speedy and safe transportation out of
coniinement, to « non-imperialstic country."* Negotiations began after the group

 
Che Guevara, Frantz Fanon, and Mao Zedong. Inmates for Action in Alabama, for
example, established survival and political education programs in the mid-1a70s,
‘that met every day of the week, covering topics such as black history ard “Revolu-
‘tionary theory and the truth of capitalism and its ill effects."

‘Many individuals who had gone to prison for what the Left termed ‘social
crimes* (Le, street crime) were trensfcrmed by ideas introduced to them by liter-
ature sent in or giver. to them inside, A California prisoner named George Jeckson
became the most well Known and influential priscner-turned-revolutionary. in
prison for armed robbery of seventy dollars fram a gas station, Jackson became
politicized and, ultimately, a field marshal of the Hack Panther Party. Through
‘him, Penther chapters sprung up throughout the California prison system. In his
best sclling book, Solsdadrotier: The Prison Letters of George jackson, he articulated
how black people were systematically oppressed end exploited in the United
States, identifying a direct connection between iraprisonment and anti-black
racism.* This pernicious connection, es Jackson proclaimed in his posthumously
Published manifesto, Bloed in My Eye, made prisoners “a mighty reservoir of revo-
Jutionary potential."® While Jackson became a cause célébre, he was also training
cadre within prison in a range of revolutionary theories and fighting techniques *
Jacksou’s giowirg popularly end Lue increasing number of leftists being incarcer-
‘ated helped put prisoners at the center of the radical Taft's agenda in the early
19708. Prisoner. activism built on the presence of militant organizations on the
streets, especially ariong communities of color. Ralph Hamm, a leader in the
National Prisoners Reform Association (NPRA) ct MCI Welpols, described NPRA's
program as “rooted within the Black Consciousness Movement of the time." As
with the Black Panthers, the work of the American Indian Movement, Brown
Berets, Young Lerds, and militant unfonism contributed to widespread interest in
and from radical prisoners.

Even more than revolutionar‘es outside of prison, organizers within priscn
faced violert repression. Radical prisoners, particularly radicels of coler, endured
additional physical and mental abuse, such as beatings and extended solitary con~
finement. After acts of resistance, including sit-ins and work strikes, participants
‘vere usually physically reprimanded.’ Prisoners identified as leaders or political
agitators were fequently kept in isolation or transterred to different cellblocks
and between prisons.” tn an attempt to scuelch radical organizing of any kind,
specially among black prisoners, prisan officials also took away privileges, cen-
sored the mail, and kanned books sent to prisoners identified as activists.”

Organizing
One of :he ways prisoners tried to withstand prison administrators’ repression
was by forging a culture of solidariy. Tae main obstacle to building it was racial
sension. Following World War Il, the racial ccmpesition of prisons began to
shange from majority white to disproportionately black; yet. in.maay places,
prisons remained recially segregated antil the r960s."® While the Black Muslims
and others challenged racial segregation, institutional integration did not address
the pervasive recism among white prisoners, prison guards, and administrators.
‘Prison adminisiratore used rocial divides to their advantage by favoring and prv-
ileging white prisoners over prisoners of color in order to maintain control, such

" that racial tensions at prisors often resulted in violent confromations betwesn
prisoners.”
"By the later 1960s, rrisoners influenced hy the idenlogies of growing Third
‘World movements in the United Szatesand abroad asserted that prisoners consti
tuted a separate political and economic class with common interests. Organizers
tied lo forge bouds among prisoners to build whet they described as a united
front that coulé engage in a common class struggle as an imprisoned class of
people “subjected to [a] continuous eycle of poverty, prison, perole, and more
poverty." Organizations like the United Prsoners’ Union, formed in 1970, sought
‘io orgunize prisoners af a convicted class to break this cycle A class-based
‘approach did not define all of the growing prison movement, which was heavily
shaped by racial nationalism, but there was a growing recogaition that divisions
among prisoners hampered organizing to effect change. Racial conflicts, such as @
1967 clash at San Quentin, began to be resolved “hrough truces between white and
black leaders and stated commitments to work-together for unified goals. At

| Walpole State Prison in Massachusetts, white prisoner Bobby Dellelo gained an
“understanding that reform is impossible without racial equity* and if “Black
prisoners were left behind, soon all prisoners would be right back with them."
Politiczed prisoners argued that racial unity terrified prison officials~for, as
‘orenzo Komboa Eivin, a Black Panther imptisoned at Terre Haute prson in
Indiana, argued, “all prison officials know that if racism is surmounted, revolt is,
‘nevitable." Ervin considered the relationships between white radicals and black
revolutionaries essential in dismantling the Klan's influence at Terre Haute.**

Imprisoned orgunizers increasingly called for (and often achieved) unity,
which allowed them to organize successful strices and protests surrounding spe-
cific demards. The uprisings at San Quentia in:968 and at the Long sland branch
of the Queens House of Detention in October 1970, and the work stoppages at
Soledad, Prise, and San Lis Obispo prisons in California in November of 1971,
were organized by multiracial coalitions that attempted to breach racial divisions
among prisoners with a united, cross-race, prisoner class consciousness, Heigat-
‘ened oliticization of prisoners, support from outoide organisations, and growing
rejection o! reform contributed to increasing organized prisoner resistance in the
form of work strikes, sit-ins, and prison takeovers. Prison uprisings increased from
five in 1967 to fifteen in 1968, thirty-seven in 1970, zhirty-seven in 1971, and forty-
ight in 1972, the most in any year of US. history
Prisoners across the country used work strikes to win geins in pay, improved

‘conditions, and collective bergaining rights, as well as to express solidarity with
other actions oF events happening domestically and interontionally, Perhaps as

 
crucial, prisonier'strikes aimed to garnar visibility for prsonet as vn opp:essed
but organized cless. Between 1965 and 1975, prisoners wert on ytrike in more than
& down. slates, including Arizona, Ohio; Nebraska, tndlana, New Jersey, and
Oklahoma Work strikes at women’s prisons, such as the spring 1971 work strike
at the California Institution for Women, Frontera, responded not only to labor
practices but also to oom and body searches.” Labor-centerad organizing high-
lighted the ways the goverament profited from priconer labor. By refusing towor,
prisoners asserted their power as workers and challenged the perspective that
prisoner lator was free end exploitable.** Nationwide, working prisoners were
ald far below minimum wage, if at all. Flom the mid-{960s to the mid-1970s,
unions were orgenized in California, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Washington, New
England, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Washington.* Prisoner labor unions
fought for prisoners’ rights as workers whose labor was exploited by federal and
state governments and unableto bs uscd in and for their own communities. In tke
words of New Hampshire prisoners: “When prisoners rebel and demand to be
‘treated as human beings; theyare not only fighting the inhumane conditions; they
are striking out agairst the stete which maintains this situation by which each ot
us ie rebbed'of the Sruits of our labor every day."® Some uniors utilized con-
frotational tactics, while others worked within legal and legislative channels.
However, they shared a radical anaiysis of prison labor as central to American cap-
italism, and thus coxsistently pushed agaizst Ue batsieis sel by prison authon-
tes, NFRA had 8o percent of prisoners sign union cards when they requested
recognition as a collective-bangaining unit for prisoners at MCI Walpole by tk
‘State Labor Relations committee. In addition to wanting to function as a collective
bargaining unit, NPRA had goal: to “exercise ceifdetermination within the
prison, and to demonstrate that the prison iiself was unnecessary."S* NPRA's
organizing culminated in a three-montivlorg takeover ofthe prison in 1973, when
‘he prisoners ran the ins-ttution efter guards refused to work in protest af pris-
ner radicalism and what they saw as alenient prison administration.>

 

Beyond Reform

Groups organizing inside and outside of prisons pushed for social programs,
improved prison conditions, and a change in policies, such as indeterminate sen-
tencing Some liberal prison administrators tried to implement reforms as part of
‘the prevailing “rehabilitation* correctional wisdom of the time, such as increased.
‘access to educational and technical training and the formation of “Inmate Griev-
ance Councils.” By design, these reforms were minor alterations to the existing
system and were often used to dampen the fire of moze radical critiques. In
‘Massachusetts, for example, reform legislation that sought to reduce the size of
the prison system by linking state prisons in a step-wise “behavior modificaticn
program” that exparded work and community facilities resulted in significant
prisou expasion. Former Deparment of Youth Services director jerome Miller
 

‘himself recognized these commuinity corrections facilities as “not so much alter”
- native as -additional."5 Byen the granting ‘Of prison movement demands bolstered
‘the prison eyetem:; ae witnessed in the campaign aganst indcterminate sentenc:

_ tng, The reforme:s who had conceived of indeterminate sentencing. in 1870 had

“ viewed st as a “progressive” way to rehabilitate prisoners. But in practice, it was
‘usedl Wo Keep intividuals imprisoned at thé discretion of parole boards.** ‘The
_ 1970s prisoners’ movement successfully overturned indeterminate sentencing! by
the 1980s, however, individuals on the political Right had viewed this policy's 100.
lenient and used its discontinuation as an opportunity to enact more repressive
-éoniencing policise, ouch os mandatory minimums in the 1980s and three strikes
Jaws'in the rag08

~- »-Thecombination of the disappointing reality of reform and the rapid radicall-

zation of people inside, facilitated by the steady influx of radicals entermg pnsor
(on politically morivated charges, led re‘ormors and revolutionaries to start cout
pling demands for institutional changes with calls to overhaul or elin:inate. the
entire system. A radical analysis of imprisonment spread, identifying prisons as
“warchoascs of the poor” or weapons of “genocide” mean: to oppress individuals
and communities rather than promote safety. In this analysis, ratker than being
broken and ia need of repzir, US. prisons functioned as they ware designed: to be
tools for maintaining racial and class hierarchies. The United Prsoners Union
_wrere, “Iisa gross political mistaketo struggle for minimal reforms, because even,
‘when these reforms are grantec, the Korcentration Kemps are still therefor those
“who threaten the ruling class." Jerome Miler agreed, characterising refoma as
“innovation without threatening the institution's stability? end “new language
to cover old realities."# z

“he only solurion, then, was to abolish prisons and develop new structures
that dealt holisticelly with the root causes of societal harms, In a le:ter to ore of
his supporters, Jokn Clatchette, one of the Soledad Brothers, wrote, “There is but
‘one imperative overhaul! Reform] means changing the frame on the wall—but
not the picture itself."

1 was in this context of a developing redical, prisoner-class consciousness
and zegicnal and loca} prison organizing that the prisoners al Atliva occupied
1D Yard, The violence hy New York State Troopers ia response to the takeover (and.
subsequent self-organizing) of the facility by the prisoners at Attica proved to
many the necessiry of radical change. Calls for abolishing prisons were wide-
spread, They intermingled with other approaches to prison organiting, including
individual prisoner deiense committees, prison moratorium organizing, legisla-
tive efforts, and insurrectionary appeals. Leftist media, such as tae KPFA (Pacifica)
radio show Nothirg Is More Precious Than, covered news ot prisoner organizing,
promoted campaigns to free political prisoners, end circulated communiqués of
underground groups such as the Black Liberation Army that challenged the prison
system.® But even mary in the prison movement did rot view abolition as viable.
tt was not until efter Attica that crgurizations expLcilly focused on abolition
Although initially dispersed, a common set of abolitionist ideas, strategies
and tactics coalesced during the early to mid-1970s. Abolition was based on the
shared belief that social inequalitics causcd interpersonal violence. In the aboli-
tionist handbook Instead of Prisons (1976), the Prison Research Education Actior
Projact (PREAP), a collective of abolitionist pacifists, cefined crime “as e problem.
‘witt roots deep tn the social structure, not just as a series of problems cf individ
‘uals Rather thar, prnishing individual actors, collective response to the root
causes is needed.”*” These root causes, including recism, poverty, sexism, ané
homophobia, were produced by society and the state and resulted in an unequal

bogan to make concrete demands. They created progiains that could efiectively
abolish prisons by dircetly addreasins the sources of social equality and inter-
persoaal and systemic violence, From the perspective of Angela Davis, Lerself a
political prisoner in 1971, “the Attica rebellion marked a momer wichin the his-
tory of this country when people started to take sertously the passibility of aboli-
hing the prison."#Not masses of peaple, however, as the subsequent rise of mass
imprisonmentwellattests. But to some, Attica and its aftermath raised the specter
that the best prisor. was no prison atall.

Abolition was predicated on the idea that imprisonment was a means to con-
‘rol, maintain impoverishment among, and exert systemic violence upon, com-
munisies of color and poor whites. The demand to abolish prisons, and, more
recently, to abolish the prison industiial complex, emerged as a challenge to white
supremacy, economic inequality, and systemic violence. Activist Bettina Aptheker,
a supporter of the Soledad Brothers and active ir. the campaign to free Angela
Davis, wrete,

 

‘The issue is not only reform, but also to mount a struggle to abolish the
preseat factions and foundations of the prison system, aa effort whichcan
finally eucseed only wita the abolition of capitalism. ... Of course, what
reforms can be won in day-to-day battle on the legal and political front will
‘be important concessiors. But the poitt is to attack the whole foundation—
all the assumptionyinvolved In maintaining [the] prison system."*

A variety of organisations, individuals, and means were employed to further the
‘cause of abolition. This included prisoner unions, prisoner support organizations,
revolitionary organizations pacifists, and even a few judges and prison adminis-
‘rators. The broad politics of abolition provided one of very few places where black
nationalists, proponents of armed self-defense, and primarily waite, radical pact

fists came together in shared rolitics and practice, Self-identified abolitiorists
considered themselves a part of a “living tradition of movements for socia! justice”
directly connected to movemerts to abolish slavery in the nineteenth century.

‘They caw the present-day terms of imprisonment a: a different form of slavery ‘hat
‘was paradoxically enabled by the Thirteenth Amendment, whict outlawed slavery
except as punishment for a crime, thereby writing (penal) slavery into lew while
seeming to formally abolish it.°

 
distribution of powerand wealth that benef:ted onlya few.* Prisons were used to
‘maintain this imbalance, failing to meke the public safer and erdangerirg the
communities they targeted.” For PREAP, “the only meaningful way to change the
prevailing American system of liberty for the free, justice for some, and inequality
~ forall [was] :hrough shifts in the distribution of power.”®*
|. Inmates for Action (IFA), an Alatama ant'-prison prisoner group, and its
"allied organization on the outside, the Committee for Prisoner Support in Bir
ingham (CPSB), shared this perspective and connected abolition with the need for
‘social change, Mafundi, a former IFA member who worked with the CISB, wrote,
“without the restructuring of society—its values, morals, priorities, etc.—there
“could never be @ realistic effort to rid the country of erime ané criminals *3'Simi-
"larly, New England Prisoners Association members in New Hampshire held a “final
_and foremost objective to abolish prisons and the system: which breeds them."
_PREAP advocated a three-Fronged abolitionist agenda that included “(1) economic
and social justice for all, (2) concern for all victims and {g) rather than punish
ment, reconciliation in @ caring community."S' The handtook attempted to
| ground this tripartite strategy in concrete, community-based models of social
© Change that connected revolutionary transformation of society to persénal trans-
formation of individuals and communities.

 

‘Maintaining the belief that imprisonment was “morally reprehensible and

“indefensible,” as wellas ineffective in actually promoting safety and the healing of

“ jnterpe-sonal harms, abolitionists advecated for “reconciliation, not punishment

| alsa proper responce to criminal acts’—what would grow to be called transfor-
mative justice. PREAP wrote,

 

‘The present criminal (in)justice systems focus on someone to punish, car-
ing litle about the criminal’s need or the victim’s loss. The abolitionist
response seeks torestore both the c-iminal and the victim to full humanity,
to ivee of integrity and dignity in the community. Abolitionists advocate
the least amount of coercion and intervention in an individuel’s life and
‘the maximum amount of care and services tc all people in society.s*

‘This perspective was shared by the American Friends Service Commit:ee (AFSC),
‘a Quaker peace and social justice orgentzation; several members of FREAP wert
themselves Quakers ‘5 While the Quakers had invented the penitentiary system in
1791, they became leaders in prison reform and, later, prison abolition organizing,
‘ABSC ran a Criminal Justice Program that worked on prison reform and advocated
for crisis centers axl community empowerment as prison alternatives te moze
fully adress the harm thet people experienced and endured, es well as to improve
living conditions and help people fin¢ employment and educational opportuni-
ties. They recommended “that a full raage of therapy, counseling, and psycaiatric
‘and educational scrviccs be made available, free, on 2 voluntary besis, to the
‘entire population, inside prisons and on the sreet”% The project of abolition,
‘then, was just as much creative asit wes for the destruction o: the existing system

 
of punishment. Prisoner M. sharon Smolick defined the task in the prologue to
Instead of Prisons

ILisnotenough to endorsea movement, support aa issue or each outamong.
‘ourselves, inside and outside prisons..As abolitionists we must look to the
future and examine the long term impact oftheir present reality. We rust be
creative and inquisitive, We must understand our direction and abolition
‘must be that direction because the entire syciem of punishmenthas failed 7

Atolitionis's urcierstood that the development of such community was a long-
temn project, and while they advocated swift and massive chenge, they took steps
inthe short term to build this new society. in its 97rreport on the state of prisons
and the criminal legal system in the United States, AFSC called for investment in
communities through funding for education, jobs, housing, and healtheare, as
‘well as. an immediatz mcratorium on prison construction and an end to indeter-
minate sentencing,

Ifthe choice wer: between prisons as they now are and no prisons atall, we
‘would promptly choose the latter. We are convinced that it would be far
Detter to tear down all jalls now than to perpetuate the inhumanity and
horror being carried on in soziety's name tehind prison walls. Prisons as
‘thay exist are more of a burden and disgrace to cur society than they are a
protection or a solution to the problem of crime.

‘While urgently resiscing the current prison system, abolitionists were strong crit-
ics of prison reform as it was then unfolding. Echoing Jackcon’s claim that reform
only meant greater repression, abolitionists argued that mary reforms only
‘masked the true nature of rrisons.* Abolitionists sought to expose prisons as
nothing more than the caging of humans, aud advocated for “abolitionist reforus™
that tcok power out of the prison system, empowered communities, and created
opportunities for expanding abolitionist praxis. This prexis meant reducing and
eliminating prisons, most immediately, but it also entailed a broader assault on
the ideologies and institutions that made imprisonment postible Ae PREAP
defined it, "Modern reforms attempt to mask the cruelty of caging, Our goals ere
not diverted by hardsome new facades, the language of ‘treatment’ and prison
‘managers who deftly glld the bars, Present reforms will not abolish the cage unless
they continue to move toward constant reduction of the function of prisons *6°
Alongside avowed abolitionists, other organizations alsc worked for moratoriums
on prison construction. Abolitionists viewed moratorium as merely a first step,
‘and combined cffors to halt prison construction with programs “hat empowered
‘communities and furthered decarceration and excarceration * Abolition reforms
ranged from expanding community-based services to funding housing and job-
‘creation programs, to improving prison visitation policies. These initiatives
scught to address the social problems that caused crime and triedto minimize the
isolation that prison imposed. Abolitionists worked fo empower their communities
‘by designing and implemerting solutions to probiems of sexual violence, suen:a¢
ape crisis centers, seltdefense inst-uction, end provision of antirepe educetion
10 people ofall ages and gerders. Prisoners also organised inside to prevent sexual
"assault and to empower survivors of sexual violence who were locked up. Prison
ao Against Rape in Virginia and Waskington, DC, focused on consciousness-
-taising, political education, and self-help, with the goal of eliminating rape. Men
“Against Sexism (MAS),a gay prisoners’ organization in Washington State Peniten=
Lary in Wala Walla, Linked an analysis of sexism, homophobia, and racism to
“organize against the sexual viclence prevalent at the prison, MAS published a
newspaper, the Lady Finger, provided physical protection for individuals targeted
for assault, and fought for gay prisoners’ rights.°3
Decarceration strategies inchuded fightirg against indeterminate sentercing
‘if parole, advocating for shorter sentences, and organizing community-
‘estisution programs. Abolitionists advocated methods of excarveration ‘o reduce
“Hlependency on prisons. hese strategies included decriminaltzing drug use and
“sex -work, lowering bail fines, establishing community dispute and mediation
‘centers, facilicating vietim-offender reconciliatior. programs, alternative sentene-
ng polis, and community robetion tha: would be carried out by commu:
organizalions iusiead of “correctional” probation by probation officers.
‘Organize:s utilized some prison administrators and government programs tc
‘inake abolitionist gains. 1a Massachusetts, Commissioner of Corrections John
“boone supported the development of community programs as alternatives te
“imprisonment and, although inconsistent, helped and supported prisoner- and
“ community-led reforms at Walpole, including the formaticn of the NPRA.®:
Abolitionist reforms aimed to transfer power from the courts and prisons to
“the people.” Orgenizations outside prisons, like the Ad Hce Committee on Prior,
“Reform in the Northeast, 2s well as inside prisons, like NPRA at Walpole, “were
‘opposed to all treatment that was not demarded, developed, and self-selected by
“the prisoners, recognizing that ‘norma? could also mean enforced compliance
“vith societal ideals." tnsvead, the abolitionist reforms that prisoners designed
_would improve immediate concitions while contributing to empowerment within
hieiz home communities outside of prison. Education was a vital element of this
process, understood as a vital step in transfcrmation rather than just a meus Uf
“elf-betterment. At Walpele, NPRA and Black African Nations Towards Unity
{(BANTU) organized classes in black history; remedial learning programs for read=
ing, writing, and arithmetic; and classes to prepare imprisoned students for
college." BANTU organize: Ralph Hamm recalls,

 

 
     

 

  

‘The Black prisoner popultion had farteaching expectations that took
{rom bekind the prison walls, having entered as proverbial pariahs; back to
our tespectivs communities as educated and contributing members of the
Consciousness Movement. We sought meaningful vocational and educa-
tional programs to transform us inte productive human beings.
 
  

fous, Lt only Continues where others Lett off... ,
Other atolitionis: groups, such as Inmates for Action (IFA), The New England Pris
ners Association (NEPA), and the Prisouets' Solidarity Committee (P80), share
similar chari-term goals as part of an effort to make prisons obsolete. In addition
to better prison conditions, IFA acvoceted for an expansion of educational-and
vocational programs, “more humane and expanded visiting privileges,” conjugel
Visils, union representation, and the “abolition of segregation (lock up/sclitary
confinement) and punitive isolation (holeidoghouse) cells, :he termination of
prison and jeil construction, and the development of community-based treatment
‘centers as alternatives to incarceration."®?

Founded in Rhode Islané, NEPA was a multiracial coalition of prisoners:
ex prisoners, ané people outside of prison that initially came together to mebilize
a national movement for prison raform. Between early 1973 and late 1974, they
started 10 advocate for abulition. They organized for minimum wages for prison
labor, a uniform penal code. and prisoner unions. NEPA also helped released pris
oners find employment, edited and distributed a newspaper, NsPA News, and
coordinated family visits at prisons throughout the Northeast. They wanted 1»
“accomplish, promote, and cause creative, modern, progressive, and non-violent
prison reform in the United States {that would}:

1, Abolish prisons as they exist and are used today

2 Replace prisons and imprisonment with aa alternative that will work and
phase out jails for awaiting trials

3, Deal with problems that are NOW facing prisoners, prisons, and the prison
system.”

‘With ckapters ina dozen states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest,
the PSC orgénized for the abolition of prisons while providing concrete serv.ces in
‘the form of legal assistance, transportation for family visits, and help with corre-
‘spondence. The PSC zlso publisher a newspaperby the same name and pubiicized
news in prisons through pamphlets, press releases, and demonstrations. While
SC activists worked for prison reforms, they coasistently argued that justice ard
{ruc change would only come through the abolition of the exis:ing prison gystem”™
“Thereis orly one solution.” wrote PSC organizer Tom Soto, “and that isto tear the
prisons down.” That position was repeated by abclitionists across the country,
including at the 1972 Prison Action Conterenc? at the University of Call‘ornia,
Berkeley, which adopted as its slogan, *Tear Dovm the Walls."3

In addition to these organizing projects, the call for abolition made its way,
briefly and sometimes confusingly, into the breader public sphere, Beginning in
1971, Arthur Waskow at the Institute for Policy Studies valled for a bicentennial
\withont prisons or jails, proposal he circulated informelly but also published in
the Saturday Review. Former ettorney general Ramsey Clark published a book in.
1970 that many journalists and others described as calling for abolition” Yet
some were skeptical of both Waskow's and Cla:k’s proposals, seeing their aboli-
tionismas too thin and not thought out. Jessica Mitford, a bestselling irvestigative
“Vepoiier and longtime activist, challetged both men in hex 1973 prison-expoxé
‘Kind and Usual Punishment. In the book’s conclusion, Mitford ergued that Waskow
‘and Clark both betrayed the principles of abolition by calling for the confinement
‘of foetal deviants on enclosed farms—which would not be called prisons bat, she
‘unguod, would serve the same purpose 75 Abolition, therefore, was a contested
‘eoitcept, with a sweeping critique that appealed to a wide range of activists. intel-
‘Wecuuals, and poticy mnakers in the 1970s. Even when proponents disagreed cn
‘the specifics, heay/cs witessed a widespread rejection uf Ue existing prison sysr
“tem, Several referms followed the wave of prisoner organizing and rio:s between’
1968 and 1972. However, the Right and not the Left achieved greater success in.
“massively overhauling the prison system—through its expansion rather than is
vetection.

 

 

Backlash and Decreasing Momentum.

 

\bolition ettors started to crystalize as the prison movement started io decline,
‘In the miid-1970s, there were numerous calls and efforts todevelop national ongar-
izations and a coordinated strategy to fight for prisoners’ rights, prison reform,
‘and prison abolition.” By the cecade’s end, these calls faced limited support. This
“auiug support owed, in 2art, to a combination of limttetions within the prison
‘movement end expanded policing and retributive legislation. Recognizirg the
decline in the moverrent’s appeal, some prison activists acknowledged that they
‘had romanticized prisoners, failed to build popular support for their politics ina
‘lay and order” climste, end responded to urgent crises rather than developing
strategic priorities.” Many organizing efforts also depended, in part, on stretegic,
“sympathetic key-holders, such as judgesand prison administrators who were syr:-
pathetic to prisoners and prisoner advccates, Some ct these power brokers made
‘large-scale, if short-lived impacts, such as Jerome Miller, who closed juvenile pris-
‘ons in Massechusetts in fevor of decarceration and improved education because,
in his words, “juvenile justice has abvays been and continues to be aeglectful,
‘demeaning, frequently violent, and largely ineffective.® With the increasing
saliance of law-and-order politics, however, there were fever sympathetic officials
like Miller tc whom organizers could turn for support.

Laweand-order politics—which preduced control units, created maximum-
security prisons, and rein-roduced the death penalty—made it more difficult for
prisoners to organize. Increasingly punitive sentences were adopted, and an
expanded drug war sent unprecedented numbers of people to prison. AFSC recog-
nized Uxit abhorrent practices, such as solitary confinement, were adopted “par-
tially or minimally through the efforts of well-intentioned reformers,” which led
the organization to wonder whether “the changes we recommend tum out to
bbe two-edged swords?”® Gains made by the prisoners’ movement were often uti-
lized or reinterpreted to expand the breadth and severity of the prison system,
‘create more stringent sentencing policies, and “extend the net of social contro!

 
in communities most impacted by imprisonment-~mostly poor and black." Even,
with a certain liberalization of penal policies in the short term, the Ioig-rang>-
policy approach in the wake of prson radicalism was a massive extension of the
pibon system in American life

‘The growth of the prison system was not just a set of policy decisions but a
philosophical orientation toward punishment and control. abolitionist onganiz~
{ng in the mid-1970s had not only identified the limitations of prison reforun but
lz laid the ideological and organizing foundarions tha: abclitionists continued
touse in the early twenty-first century. Twenty-nine years after Instead of Prisons
"was first published, the abolitionist organization Critical Resistance reprinted the
handbook Since Use Luvk fiust appeared, the U.S. prisen population has grown
from more than 200.000 to more than 2 million, with a massive increase in
surveillance and policing, both in prison and in society as a whole. Yet, accord
{ng to Critical Resistance’s introduction to the new edition, the fundamentals
of abolition elucidated in the 1970s remain relevant tn ending the current phe-
nomeron of mass imprisonment. “Waile the climate in which we fight against
imprisonment has certainly changed .... Instead of Prisons is as timely and neces-
sary asever."*

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

‘Much thanks and appreciation go to several individuals who provided generous assistanc>,
support, and feedback in the production ofthis piece. In particular, Dan Berger contributed
his awn archival research and fabulons editing talent. Thanks aluo to Rachel Herzing. David
Stein, and Geoff MeNamara for their he'p and insight.
 

 

James B.Jacots,

NOTES

‘Tom Wicker, A Time to Die: The attia Prise Ret (1975; rpt, Lincoln: University of
Nobraske Prees, 1994), 28.

For accounts of the Attica uprising, see Brad Licatenstein, dir, Ghosts of Attice (New
York: First Run/learus Films, 2001); Samuel MeWvile, Letere from Astica {New York:
William Horrow, 1972); Wicker, A Time to Die, Seo also Heather Thompson, Attiew (New
York: Partheon, forthooming).

See, for instance, Syracuse Attica Coalition, Attioa Is All of Us (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse
Attica Caalition, 1874)

Families and friends of Prisoners Collective, “introduction,” in Deing Time (Dorchester,
MA: Families end Trien¢s of Prisoners Collective, August 1¢77). Attics was a commoa
point of reference for prison activists tmaghemt *his period. For example, tamates for
Action, e prisoner group in Alabama prisons, called its 1974 update “Alebama’s Attics”
-MiduigheSpecil 3.4 (Api 1972) 5.

Dan‘el Burton Rose, "War Behind Walls: Work Strikes and Prisoner Sel-Orgentzation in
US. Prisons, 1667-76" (Bachelor's thesis, Obedlin College, 1998), 37-38.

3. Harvard sitkof, The Somgge for slack equality (New Yore: Hil and Wang, 198), 66; Bob

Barber and John Palas, “Riot to Revolution,” in Punishment ard Penal Discipline: Esays 07
the rison and Prisoners’ Movement, ed. Tony Platt and Paul Takagi (San Francisco: Crim=
and Social Justice Arsocistea, 1980). 148-150,

 

“Phe Piisonss’ Rylits Movernent and Its Impacts, 19601380," Crime
and ustice 2 (1980): 433-434,

The vast array of politcal organizing and culbura! production to emerge fom behind

loon wells in the 1970s has yet toy fully documentee, For preliminary overviews, see
Ronald Berkman, Opening the Gates The Rise of the Piscners’ Movement (Lexington, MA:
‘Lexington Books, 1979) as wellas the texts cited in notes 4 and 6 above, and ncte 1g below.
‘Outside groups came together around specific caupulges to ee political prsoners. For
‘exanple, the Natioral United Committee to Free AngelaDavis and All Political Prisoners
ONUCFAD), and later the National Allance Against Racist and Political Repression
ONAARPR), included a wide range of Left groups, with memhers of the Bleck Panther
Party, the Communist Party USA, and liberal sympathetic lawyers, See Angela Davis: An
‘Autobiography (New York: tnternstivusl Publishers, 1388 [1974), 307-398. NUCEAD
‘co-eited the 1971 book Jf They Come in the Morning, which spotlighted dozens of cases
‘then ongoing, including those of Black Parithers, antiwar activists, women o' color ferm-
{nist and militants from the Americar Indian, Chiearo, and Pusrto Rican independ
jence movements. See Angela Davis et al, eis., If They Come in the Morning: Voices of

-Resisunce (San Francisco: The Thhd ress, 1671). The NAARER files at the Schomburg
| Center for Research in Black Culture reveal tbe ongoing movement solidarity the group

attempted throughcut tke 1970s, as it crganized to support politica prisoners from
range of causes and fought back againat repressive logiaation.

. Ashanti Alston, interview with autor, tape recording, Brooklva, New York. Ianvary &
“2004

“alabwants AUlcas,” Midnight spect 4:6 (August-September 1974) 8.
‘George Jackson, Solaiad Frather The Prison Letters of George Jackson, 2nd od. {New Yorke
“Bantam Books, 1972)

‘George Jackson, “Toward the United Front,” Bod in My Eye (New York: Random House,
ro7aand Yaltimore: lack Classics Press, +990), 108.
1. See Jackson's seltdescription in Blo in My Eye, See also Lee Bernstein, “The Age of
Jeckson: Qcorge Jackson and the Culture of Ameran Prizons in the :970a" Jounal
American Cultre 303 (September 2007): 317, and Eric Cummins, The Rise and Fall of
Calipmia’s Radical Prison Movement (Stanford, CA: Starford University res, 1294),
1S1486. The online jourral Proud Mesh: New Afritan Journal of Culture, Poles, and
Consciusnasethe tile Is taken fom a letter by Jackson—siows one way in which
Jicloun Wolinus Wo fluence cade and activist discourse Ses especialy issue 5,
‘walle at http:/proudileshjoumalcomissue/tocS.htm.

15, Jame Bissnette, When the Prisners2an Walpole: A True Story inthe Movement for Prison
‘Abiltun (Cambridge, MA; South End Press, 2060), 139.

(6. Cummins, California's Radical Pron Novenent, 8.

17, Bo Brewa, a former golitical prisoner and member of the Georg Jackson Bignde, an
armed clandestine goup inthe mic-970s, wes frequently tensfecred ‘rom pris to
‘risor. To limiter, Bo Brown recalled, they "kept me isolated end they moved me every
Year and a half t twoyears." Bo Brown, interview wih author, tape reconding, Oaland,
A, Januay 19,2004

18, The comphint of prion administrtion repression. features prominendy in prisoner
‘writings at the time, as well a in the denands of rebelling prisoner, swch as those at
Folzom in gro, attic in 17, snd Marion in 57a. Se, for instance Alan Biadio Géener,
“Resisting Living Death at Marion Federal Penitentiary, 1972," Radial History Review 96
(2006) 58-86, fisoner newsletters requently spoke of such Narassmen:; see midnight

Syecial, Prisoners News, NYU Bebst Tamiment'Wagncr. Archived: Main Collection,
Gv 6201.msai

19, James B,Jcobs, “Rave Relations and the Prisoner Subalture” Crime andustie x (979)
“7

20, Pallas and Barter, *iot to Revolution," 150; Bernstein, “The Age oJacon.* 37.

21 “Hissory cf theUP.C," Anvil (Marel-Apai 1973): Alteraatve Press Archives. Used with

22, Pallas and Barber, “Riot o Revolution,” 50; Cummins, California's Radical Bison Move-
ment, 91

23, Bissonete, When the Prisoners Sun Wale, 28.

‘24. Lorenzo Komboa Brin, “Behind the Wall ofPriscn,” in Race Trator, ed. Noe ignatier
and john Garvey New York: Routledge, -996), 62

25, vert Useem and Peter Kimball, Saws of Slee: US. Frum Rvs 1971-1986 (Onfrd: Oxford
University Press, 19), 18

26, Arizona Sate Prisor in Forense, 972; Vermont, Lincoln, NE October 18, 17%; Nebraska
Peau Couples, October 18,1972 (4 Dena Digest International 25 [October 19: 4)
‘Michigan ity, IN, 1972; MeAlester Prison, OK, May, 1970; Lacawille, OF, ay 24, 1875;
‘ramingtam Women’s Prison, MA, December 13,1972; end Clinton Women's Prison, N,
November 8.1972

27, Burton-Rose, "War Behind Wall,” 26.

28. The Thireenth Amendment of the United States made slivery or involuntary serv-
tude ilegl unlec for punishment ofa crime: “amerdmeat KIT Passed by Congres.
January a, 1865, Rtfi December 6, 1865, Section 1 Neither slvery nor involantany
servitude except aba punishnent or rime whereot the pary shall have been uy cor
‘cted. shall ecst within the United Ststes, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”
“Avalableat wor archives govlehibitschartrs/onsttution amendments. 11-27 html,
se Atendient I (accessed May 31,2008).

29, Ted Siegel, “Strugele in Ohio,” NEPA Nows (October 197g): 3; Burton-Rose, "War Behind
Walls”

 

 
30. “Micnighs Benatt," aidn'ght speciat Prisoners News 5:4 haly~Augus 1979): 13.

‘aL Bissonette, When the Priseners Ran Walpols, 8.

32, For an acsoun of the takeover of MCI Walpole, ste Bissonette, When the Prisoners Ran
Walpole.

84, Marie Gottschalk, The Priam and the Gallows: The Plities of Mees Incarceration in America
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 194.

34. Bob Martin, “The, Massachusetts Corre:tionsl System: Trectmert as an Ideology for
Control,” in Punishment and Penal Discipline, ed. Platt and Takagi, 156-164,

35. Jerome G, Miller Last One Over the Wall The Massechusets Experiment in Closing Reform
‘Schools (Columbus; Onto state University Press, 1981, 4.

36, Perhaps the mast farionsindeterminate sentence at this time was that of George Jackson,
‘who was given one year to life and whose militant preserce inside led to repeated parole
denial. His cave, when it achleved nocoriey, catalyzed the campaign against indetermi-
nate sentencing.

37. See, ‘or instance, Frenklin E. Zimring, Gordon Hawkins, and Sam Kamin, Punishment and
Democracg: Three Spikes aa You're Out in Callorniu (New York: Oxiord University fess
2901, an Lake Wacquat, Prshin the For: The Nsibel Goverment soc saris

 

 

‘ary Sullivan, the Pig Refer: Mavimext Farlom Hope (Boston: Twayne Peblishers,
1990),106-107.
‘9. Notry of the UAU,? The Ari (Masch~Aptl3975): 3.
40, iller Last (One Over te Wal, 6.
a. Bid,
“42, oni Cutctette, “On Prison Reform," IF Thay Cone inthe Morning, 136
“4g. Se Nthing ie More Precious Than..." archives, housed at The Fresdor: Archiver, San
Francisco, ww Sreedomarchives org.
“Angela Davis interview with author, tape recording, Santa Crus, CA January, 2064,
46. Bottina Apthoker, “Social Functions of Prisons in Soci” Thy Come inte Morning 7
£46; Prison Research Education Action Project ‘PREAP), “Time to Begin," in Instead of Prisons:
© A landook for Aboliconists (Syracuse, NY: Prion Research Biation Actioa Project,
1978; nl Onktard, Ca Cia Resistance, 2008), 16.
2, Thi 36
“8: Ibid, 20. Ar the time, of course, prison abolitionists diseusel racism end poverty as
“> sructarl uses of cime more than saxem and homophobia. Gendered analjecs have
‘eoome more prevalent among contemporary prison abolitionists. See full Sudbury,
“Maroon Abotitinsts: Black Gender oppressed Activist in the Ant-Prison Moversent
in the US, and Canta" Merdians 91 (2009), 1-20: Critical Resistance ard Incite!
Women of Color Against Violence, “Gender Violence apd the Prison-Industial Com-
14" in Incite! Women of Color Agsinst Violence, ed, Colt of Vtenee (Cauibihge:
© South End Press, 2006), 225-226,
“49. Instead of Prisons 28-45
yo. Bid.
SU Mafundi, “Understanding the Criminal Justice System,” Cromittan for Prisoner Support in
Birmingham (Apri 175). Alternative Press Archives Used with permission.
“$2. “Plea for Unity.” NEPA Nove (March 1974): 10-1.
1%. PREAP, Ista ofPrzons, 20.
“ua Bid
55. Saliva, THe Prion Raform Movement, 5; Scott Christianson, With Liberty for Some: 500

 

 

 
60.

eee

6
66.
&.
8
€,
7.

1

[American Friends Service Committee (AESC), Srugge for justice: A Report on Crime ent
Punishment in America (New York Hill and Wang, 1971, 1972), 170-173

 PREAP, Insteud of Prisons, 9

AFSC, Stragat for justice: A Report on Crime and Punishment im Amica, 23.
Jocksor,Bloed in My Bye, 08. Jackson wrote, "But fone were force forthe sake of clarity
todefine fascism] in a word simple enough forall to understand that word vould be
‘refomn.” also see Karen Wald and Ward Churchill, “Kememtering the Real Dragon:
An Interview with George Tacksor"” in Cages ofSteet‘The Politics of mprisonment in Ameria,
tec. Werd Churchill and Jim Vander Wall (College Park, MD: Maisonneuve Press,
1992), 78,

REAP, Instead of Prisons, 23-25.

Ibid, 67

Ibid, 132-153.

Daniel Barton-Rove, “The Anti-Frplolts of Men Against Sexism, 1677-78." in Prison Mas-
calinitis, ed. Donald F, Sabo, Terry A. Kupers, and Willie Londoa (Philade'phia Temple
‘University Press, 2001), 224-229, Available at http/}wwwgjbip-Ong! pt c2a_mast iit
ftnreft (acczased January 3,209)

PREAP Instead ofPrisons, 4-127.

Bissonette, When the Frisoners Ran Walpole, 43-44, 78.

Did, 90.

Bid, 2.

Ibid, Bo.

“Slabema’s Atticas,” Midnight Special : 4 (April 1973): 5

‘New Eaglasa Prisons Association, EPA Newey, 19, 21 11, ARemnative Press Archives.
Used with permission

‘risoner Saldarity Committe (Septertber {0, 1971): 6. Altsrnative Press archives. Used
‘vith Permission,

‘Tom Soto, “Tear the Pisons Dov,” Frisoner Solidarity Committee 3 (November 3, 197): 4.
“Alternative Press Archives. Used with permissicn.

This conference took place at University of California, Rerkeey, Jamary 28-90, 1972.

1: featured workshops, films, and speakers. Cummins, California's Radical Prison
‘Movement, 222.

See Arthur 1 Wetkaw, **...T/Am Not Free.” Saturday Review, Tanuary 8, 1972, 20-21;
‘Ramsey Clerk, Crime in America Observations on Its Nature, Causes, Prevention and Control
(New York: simon and Schuster, 19/0)

Jessica Mitford, Kind and Usual Purishmont: The Prison Business (New Yorke Alfred A.
Kopi, 1975), 288-300.

‘The 1972 National srisoners Coalition was formed after a prisuueis’ conference in
Tortland; ee “Natioaal Frisoners Coalition Formed,” Penal Digest Intarnatimal 10
(April-May 1972): 3. A national prison network formed buielly after zhe 1676 Hard Times
Conference in Chicago; ese “Build the Mase Prison Movement,” Midnight Special 6%
(Gune-July1976) 12; and there was a call fora National Prisoner's Rigats Coalition in 977.
See “Building a Mass Prison Movement,” Midnight Special 5:2 (October 1977): 10“.
‘announcement of HEPA Dissshution,” slapled letier te final NEPA News (june 1976
“building « Mase Prison Movement,” Midnight Special x2 (October 1977): 10-11. This pos
“ton was reflected in several memols or exposés by une prison activists that were
also published in the late 197cs. Se, for instance, Jo Durden-Smith, Who Killed George
Jackson? Fantasits,aranoit andthe Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1976).

 
78. Fora detailec acccunt of the closure o! Massachusetts juvenile prisons, see Miller, Last

ne Over the Wal
79. AFSC, Struggle for justice, 156.
80, Miler, last One Over the Wall, 4.

81. More generaly on this roint, soe David Garland, The Cultar of Cortrol (Now York: Oxford

‘University Press, 2000)

82, Foran overview, see Christian Parenti, Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Ageof

Criss (New Yorke: Ver20, 2009),

83. Critical Resistance, “Introduction to the Re-print,” in FREAR,Instiadofrisons, i

AFFIRMATION

1 belive in living.
believe in the spectruie

of Beta days and Gamma people.

I believe in sunshine.

In windmills and waterfalls,

tricycles and rocking chairs.

‘And i believe that seeds grow into sprouts.
‘And sproats grow into trees.

I elieve inthe magic of the hands.

‘Anal in the wisdom of the eyes

| belive in rain and tears.

‘And in the blood of infinity.

belive in life

‘And i have seen the death parade

‘march through the torso of the earth,
sculpting mud bodies in its path.

T have seen the destruction ofthe daylight,
and seen bloodthirsty maggots

prayed to and saluted.

 

Thave seen the kind become the blind
and the blind become the bind

sn one easy lesson.

Thave walked on cut glass.

Thave eaten crow and blunder bread
aand breathed the stench of indifference.

 

Uhave been locked by:the lawless:
Handcuffed bythe haters.
Gagged by the jreedy.

And, if: know any thing at all,
it’s that a wall is jst a wall
and nothing more at all.

It can be broken down.

1 believe in living,

1 believe in birth.

1 belicvein the sweat of love
and in the fire of truth,

And i believe that a lost ship,
steered by tied, seasici sailors,
canstill be guided home

(9 Pon. ~Assata
   

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