This zine offers an excellent critique of prisons, arguing that prison is not just a physical site but also a condition that exists within society. Specifically, it offers a solid analysis of prison abolition, arguing that in seeking to “shrink” the prison industrial complex, abolitionists often end up replacing prison with other less brutal institutions. Consequently, prison doesn’t disappear but rather its mechanisms – surveillance, militarization of the police, etc – spread throughout society.

The approaches of innocence and amnesty shouldn’t draw a kneejerk criticism, but rather should be placed in the context of the politics from which they are derived--a politics that appeals to those who love the law, and a politics of war between different forms of government. Without passing judgment on the former approaches, let us say that they fit their positions, and then consider our own position. Specifically, we should look again at the distinction between political conflict and social war.