ABOLITION

ab·o·li·tion

/ˌabəˈliSH(ə)n/

noun

the action or an act of abolishing a system, practice, or institution.

ABOLITIONIST LITERATURE

Over the summer, our team reviewed literature centering abolition. We’ve read works by Holly Jackson, Angela Y. Davis, David Walker, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore, whose ideas challenged us to think beyond reform and towards a future without incarceration

Abolition is not a single moment or isolated event in history. Abolition is an ongoing, active process. From the narratives detailing the events of the Underground Railroad to contemporary texts, we’ve learned that abolishing slavery was an effort on every front. While legislative efforts like voting, treaties, and constitutional amendments played one part, equally critical were the intimate acts of protection, sacrifice, and speaking out.

Mass efforts to abolish any system reflect a flaw in that system. A system that does not perform its purpose. Take, for example, American slavery– a profit-driven institution rooted in capitalism, made to better society financially. However, there was a problem; the institution only protected some members of society, while exploiting others. When a system fails to protect all members of society, the call for abolition is both urgent and necessary. And for the carceral system, the phones are ringing!

“In both the North and the South, abolitionists were now regarded as an odious and dangerous fringe, destroyers of peace and stability who threatened the constitutional union holding the country together” (63, American Radicals)

Lancaster Prison Abolitionist: Reimagining Justice

Lancaster County is preparing to build a fourth prison. But for what purpose?

We must ask: Why are we letting more and more humans rot in cells– many of whom have not yet been convicted– while pouring tax dollars into new facilities that perpetuate the same problems?

On any given day, over 500 people are incarcerated at the Lancaster County prison, awaiting trial, simply because they cannot afford bail. This is not justice; it is punishment for poverty. The beds are filling quickly, not because the space is too little, but because there is little motivation to find a new solution.

This is not a new crisis. As early as 1885, Abe Buzzard– an infamous LCP inmate condemned the penal system as “revenge, not reform,” asking the public how someone was expected to return to society when released without “money, clothes, reputation, or friends. An article in the Lancaster Intelligencer, published in 1915, similarly questions the prison’s usefulness, after one man immediately reoffended upon release.

Even insiders have raised alarms on the system. In 1910, Prison Keeper (warden) F.W. Wener urged that the system be distinct from politics, as the current operations were corrupt and doomed to fail. Wrongly convicted, Darry Todd Peace was jailed and placed in solitary confinement in 1993. When he wrote a piece about his experience, the prison administration dismissed his claims as fiction, following his release.

Organizations like the Lancaster Bail Fund are working to challenge systemic injustice and the inequities of our legal system. Lancaster doesn’t need another building. Lancaster demands a new vision. One that listens to the People and invests in care, not cages.

Page updated

Report abuse