INSTEAD OF PRISONS: A HANDBOOK FOR ABOLITIONISTS

CONTENTS

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Preface

Acknowledgements

Prolog

The power of words

Nine perspectives for prison abolitionists

1. Time to begin

Voices of abolition • Advocates of swift and massive change • Constitutionalists • Advocates of moratorium • Peace advocates • Developing an ideology • Economic wsocial justice • Who decides? • Who benefits? • Concern for all victims • Reconciliation rather than punishment • Abolition strategies • Power and prison change

2. Demythologizing our views of prison

Crime: Myths & realities • A society of criminals? • Who gets defined as "criminal?" • Crime wave statistics & public fear • Myth of the criminal type • What causes crime? • The culture of violence • Patriarchy and violence • Official violence • Guns • Organized crime • Drugs • Criminal law & social change • The myth of protection • The few who get caught • The few society fears • Prisons & a safer society • The myth of deterrence • Difficulty in wading deterrence • Theories of deterrence • Problems with special deterrence • Problems with general deterrence • The myth of rehabilitation • A lesson for abolitionists • "Rehabilitation" = punishment & control • The cage • Indeterminacy & the treatment model • Behavior modification • The "game" • Hard days for rehabilitation • Three directions & our response • The myth that punishment works • Prison punishment: Cruel and illegal • Escalatory nature of punishment • Justifications of punishment • Learning punishment: There's no place like home • Prisoners & childhood abuse • New directions • Nonpunitive alternatives: Reconciliation • The myth that prisons are worth the cost • Economic origins • Tracking the dollar • Prison prospects • Costly decisions • Prison life is unconstitutional

3. Diminishing/dismantling the prison system

Value of creating a model • The attrition model • Moratorium • Decarcerate • Excarcerate • Restraint of "the few" • Building the caring community

4. Moratorium on prison/jail construction

Public education • Arguments in favor of prison construction • Moratorium responses • Developing a strategy for local moratorium • Researching a moratorium campaign • What do we need to know about the prison establishment? • Where do we find the information we need? • Sources • Funding prison/jail construction • How do we use the data collected? • What every prison changer should know about LEAA • The Federal Bureau of Prisons: A growth industry

5. Decarcerate

Strategies for decarceration • Decarcerating a juvenile prison system • Abolitionist proposals • Interim strategies • Modes of decarceration • Abolishing indeterminate sentences & parole • Indeterminate sentences unjust • Voices against indeterminacy • Maine's new law • The struggle in California • An interim sentencing proposal • An interim parole proposal • Prisoners view parole • Sentence review process • Relieve prison overcrowding • Restitution to victims • The Minnesota Restitution Center • Parole contracts

6. Excarcerate

Moving away from incarceration• Paradox of interim strategies • Modes of excarceration• Decriminalization • Why decriminalize? • Undercriminalization • Decriminalizing prostitution • Decriminalizing homosexuality • Decriminalizing public intoxication • Decriminalizing marijuana • Abolition of bail & pretrial detention • Constitutionality • Who pays? • Who benefits? • Is bail necessary? • Costs to hostages • Costs to the taxpayer • Release on recognizance • Pretrial diversion • Abolishing bail • Interim strategies • Community dispute and mediation centers • Mediation & arbitration • The moot model • Kinds of conflicts /crimes • Abolitionist criteria • Community Assistance Project • Restitution • Outside the system • Within the system • Victim Offender Reconciliation Program • Fines • Suspended Sentences • Probation • Alternative sentencing • Alternative sentencing thru law • Current status of sentencing • Interim strategies

7. Restraint of the few

The politics of dangerousness • "Dangerousness" and predictability • Counteracting belief in predictability • Research challenging overprediction • Shifting the emphasis • Prison: More dangerous than prisoners

8. New responses to crimes with victims

Crimes against women and children • Rape: Myth and realities • The victimization of women • Patriarchy • Sex-role socialization . • Wife assault • Rape & the criminal (in)justice systems • Placing the victim on trial • Rape law reform • Compensation • Restitution • Racist use of the rape charge • Repeating the cycle of violence • Empowering the victims of rape • Rape crisis centers • An empowerment model: BAWAR • Washington, D. C. Rape Crisis Center .• Women Organized Against Rape • Rape Relief • Innovative action projects • Men Against Rape • New responses to the sexually violent • Breaking the cycle of violence • Alternative House • Prisoner self help: PAR • Sex Offenders Anonymous • Sexuality re-education: BEAD • Treatment program for Sex Offenders • New responses to sexual abuse of children • Myths of sexual abuse of children • Child victimization study • Can a child consent? • Training in fear and silence • Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Program • Recommendations for action • Street crime • Media manipulators • Street crime & its victims • New responses to street crimes • Crime & the Minority Community Conference • CLASP

9. Empowerment

Empowering the community • Services needed • Community solutions • The House of Umoja • Delancey Street Foundation • Empowering prisoners • Qualities of a prisoner ally • Folsom prison strike manifesto • A bill of rights for prisoners • Prisoners' Union • Prisoners' voting rights • A prisoner voting rights project • Empowering the movement • Researching the prison power structure • Prisons as industry: Jobs • Research methodology • Your right to public information • Educating the public • Research/action as organizing

Epilog

Recommended readings/resources



Writers

Fay Honey Knopp

Barbara Boward

Mary Jo Brach

Scott Christianson

Mary Ann Largen

Julie Lewin

Janet Lugo

Mark Morris

Wendy Newton



Researchers

Barbara Boward

Mary Jo Brach

Amy Davidson

Blanche Gelber

Margaret Grammer

Dwight Greene

Fay Honey Knopp

Julie Lewin

David Martin



Editor

Mark Morris



PRISON RESEARCH EDUCATION ACTION PROJECT



Syracuse • New York • 1976



Designed by Mark Morris

Text typeset by O.B.U. Typesetters, New York City

Notes & captions typeset by WIN Magazine, Brooklyn

Printed by Faculty Press, Brooklyn



First Printing, December 1976

Second Printing, November 1977



Copyright © 1976, Fay Knopp, Coordinator PREAP & Jon Regier,

Executive Director New York State Council of Churches



Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-62803



The reader's eye might trip over a few unusual spellings -- words such as "tho" and "thru." We have made these modest beginnings toward spelling reform because we are made uncomfortable by the idea of cutting down forests to make paper to print silent letters. -The editor



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