How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons from the Movement Against Imprisonment by Rachel Herzing and Justin Piché

I’m growing concerned with the impossible promise books with “how to” in their title seem to offer. As a reader, there’s a big part of me that is primed to expect a numbered list of steps tailored specifically to me and my context. I know I’m being unreasonable.

In any case, How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons from the Movement Against Imprisonment by Justin Piché and Rachel Herzing is a book that embodies care and compassion towards incarcerated people. It is a commitment to a politics that focuses on finding more humane alternatives to imprisonment.

Like so many lessons from my youth, I learned a lot about the justice system from The Simpsons. In one episode, Sideshow Bob asks, in his own defence, whether the justice system is based on the idea that a man can change, upon which the chief of police comments, “Have our boys look into that.” In another episode, Marge becomes a police officer and Lisa says, “Mom, I know your intentions are good but aren’t the police a protective force that maintains the status quo for the wealthy elites? Don’t you think we ought to attack the roots of social problems instead of jamming people into overcrowded prisons?” After a pause, Marge presents a police dog puppet with a slogan that dismisses the nuanced conversation.

One of the highlights to me of Herzing and Piché’s is the way that they extend that conversation. Despite the title of the book being about abolishing prisons, abolition is not for them an all-or-nothing shift and they take to task the people who object to improving prisons since it is not abolition. I really appreciated that perspective. Demanding outright abolition is a noble goal, but while we wait, so many incarcerated people are suffering from inhumane conditions that could be ameliorated. Herzing and Piché focus on the immediate, real-world experiences of prisoners in favour of the idealism that sometimes inhibits change.

In order to keep that focus on material change, abolitionist organizations emphasize direct communication with imprisoned people. It was compelling to hear about the impact of letter writing campaigns and how much they’ve meant to incarcerated folk. Additionally, abolition can look like small-scale actions like driving incarcerated people to and from hearings and getting to know them directly. These small actions promote an understanding of others and give us a direct insight into the conditions of prisons. I really appreciate the way that abolition can take the form of direct connection. It reminds me of the chapter of Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny” about getting to know your neighbours as a way of resisting tyranny.

If How to Abolish Prisons doesn’t persuade you to rethink our system on humanitarian grounds, the authors make a compelling case against prisons for a number of reasons: they’re resource-heavy on the climate, they’re exploitative for profit, and they’re not effective in addressing the root causes of issues. The book celebrates a number of successes with communities resisting new prison construction and engaging in other large-scale action against prisons. While it maybe didn’t go as in-depth as I had hoped, the book’s optimism really helped to offset that feeling.

Happy reading and happy reforming!