Are Prisons Obsolete?
by Angela Y. Davis
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Book Summary Information
Author: Angela Y. DavisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-04
ISBN: 1583225811
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Book Reviews of Are Prisons Obsolete?
Book Review: A Brilliantly Reasoned Critique of the American Prison System
Summary: 5 Stars
In "Are Prisons Obsolete?", Professor Davis provides a clear and cogent argument that prisons not only are obsolete but that they have always been and always will be ineffectual for any purpose other than to oppress an unfairly disfavored class of people.
I concur with a previous reviewer that Professor Davis's book is by no means overly theoretical or academic. The explanation of the history of prisons in America is crucial to her intent to prove that prisons are ineffective as rehabilitatory institutions and to explain what prisons have become today in lieu of that. Although many people originally considered the institution of prisons as a progressive step that would rehabilitate criminals, economic factors and racist motives quickly perverted the prison system into a loophole in the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition against slavery. The need for cheap labor in the South after the Civil War prompted the creation of legislation geared towards incarcerating as many African-Americans as possible. These prisoners were subsequently leased out as cheap laborers. Professor Davis discusses this history of racism and economic oppression in Chapter Two of the book.
Professor Davis uses more recent history to explain how the prison system has given way to a prison industrial complex that exploits minority prisoners for economic gain in a different way. She very convincingly argues throughout Chapter Five that so-called "tough on crime" litigation and the rapid increase in the number of prisons during the past three decades is directly attributable to the economic interests of private prisons and other corporations from a wide range of industries. Although these portions of the book admittedly are intermittently peppered with Communist and Socialist phrasing, one need not embrace Communist economic thought to appreciate the value of Professor Davis's arguments. Indeed, it is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to find any type of premise assumed by Professor Davis that she does not thoroughly justify and support with facts.
A previous reviewer commented that other books would serve as a better introduction to the problems of the American prison system than "Are Prisons Obsolete?" because Professor Davis does not provide enough facts and statistics regarding these problems. Professor Davis does, in fact, devote two chapters of the book to the problems in prisons and the reform movement (including an entire chapter devoted to How Gender Structures the Prison System). But even without these facts, the value of Professor Davis's book is that it proposes a program of prison _abolition_ that should be pursued simultaneously with the prison reform movement. She lauds the work of prison reformers to end the epidemic of violence and sexual assault in prisons, to provide better educational and employment opportunities to prisoners, and to improve prison conditions generally, but she also points out that even if all these prison reforms could somehow be realized, the existence of any type of prison system would be unjust and ineffectual. In other words, although other books on the problems inherent in the prison system exist that are of equal importance, "Are Prisons Obsolete?" is a necessary addition to the academic literature on prisons in that it highlights problems that are tragically overlooked by the majority of prison reformers.
For the foregoing reasons, I would highly recommend Professor Davis's book to anyone who is interested or concerned about the state of American prisons and also to anyone concerned with race and gender problems in America.
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