Essays+Articles

The following articles are provided for educational purposes.

Organizing Guides (start an ABC)

• Anarchist Black Cross Information and Resources (Jan. 2002)

The Politics of Incarceration

• Short history of the struggle against the FIES by ABC-Gent

• On Sexual Predators, Accountability and the Anarchist Black Cross by Mark Barnsley

• Slingshot on Anarchist Black Cross Network Forming

• American Gulag: Petty criminals doing hard time

• "Address to the Prisoners in the Chicago Jail" by Clarence Darrow

• "Race, Culture and Incarceration" by Liz Appel

• "Strategies of Containment, Radical Collective Praxis and The Prison Industrial Complex" by Brady Thomas Heiner

• "Against Prisons" by Catherine Baker

• "Prison - Break the taboo"

• "'Prison Abolition' in a neo-colonial ice age" by Claustrophobia ABC

• "Prison Abolition" by Yves Bourque

• "Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure" by Emma Goldman

• "Prisons: The Cold War of the '90's" by Jalil Muntaqim

• "Gardens of the Law: The Role of Prisons in Capitalist Society" by Joel Olson

• "The Social Functions of the Prisons in the United States" by Bettina Aptheker

• "Mopping the Floor While the Tub Overflows: Concerns About More Prison Expansion & Less Crime Prevention" by Paul Leighton

• "Criminology 101" by Abdul Olugbala Shakur

• "Prison: A Social Crime and Failure" by Nightcrawlers ABC

• "Welcome the Passing of Heads of State" by Artisan Cooperative of Fire and Similar

Prisoner Writings

• "What is prison for?" by Jean-Paul Depouhon

• "Terrorism Against Blacks in Amerikkka" by Ali Khalid Abdullah

• "No Masters, No Gods!" by Ronald Young

• "Address to Friends and Supporters" by Clare Hanrahan

• "Solidarity Statement with Prisoners in Struggle" by Geert Waegemans

• Two letters from Evgeni Novozhilov

• Selected Writings of Mark Barnsley

• Selected Writings of Ali Khalid Abdullah

• "The Anarchist Rain" by Shaka N'zinga

• "Fighting Over A Flag" by Ali Khalid Abdullah

• "Red, White and Blue Fascism" by Robert Thaxton

• Statement-Announcement of Silvano from Bussoleno

• Letter from Michele Pontolillo, anarchist prisoner in struggle

• "The Importance of Supporting Prisoners" by Harold H. Thompson

• How to survive in prison - advice by a prisoner supported by ABC

• "We want Long Term Commitments... Not Temporary Ones!" by Khalfani Khaldun

• "Collective Assistance as Opposed to Selective Support" by Talib Becktemba

Prisoners and Identity

• "Political Prisoners, Prisons, and Black Liberation" by Angela Davis

• "The Struggle for Status Under International Law: US Political Prisoners and The Political Offense Exception to Extradition" by Marilyn Buck

• "Qualities of a Prisoner Ally" from Reality Now

• "Supporting Prisoners: Some Practical Suggestions" by Nightcrawlers ABC

• "The ins and outs of prisoner support" by the North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network

• "Flowing In File: The George Jackson Phenomenon" by Sanyika Shakur

• "The Question of Political Prisoners: Are All Raza Who Are Locked Down Political Prisoners?" by Union Del Barrio

• "Every Prisoner is a Political Prisoner" by A//Political

Race and Imprisonment

• "Black Liberation and Anarchism" by Ali Khalid Abdullah

• "Amerikkka Supports Hate Groups, Hate Crime and Racism" by Ali Khalid Abdullah

• "Depictions of Racialized Incarceration and Policing: Acquiescence, Challenges, and Vision" by Ayshe Woodward

• "Media Blackface: 'Racial Profiling' in News Reporting" by Mikal Muharrar

• "Back from Hell: Black Power and Treason to Whiteness Inside Prison Walls" by Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin

• "From Social Safety Net to Dragnet: African American Males in the Criminal Justice System" by Jerome G. Miller

• "The Continuing Crime of Black Imprisonment" by The Committee to End the Marion Lockdown

• "Prisons miscount Hispanics as white: Study credits California, Texas for adjustments" by Ed Timms

• "Cultural Conflict and Crime" by John V. Apollo

• "Chicano Tragedy" by Marcos Eduardo Vigil

• "Is the Issue Segregation or Colonization?" by Shaka Shakur

• "Colonialism and Profits Form the Basis for the Political Economy of Prisons in Occupied America" by the Chicano Mexicano Prison Project

• "Masking The Divide: How Officially Reported Prison Statistics Distort the Racial and Ethnic Realities of Prison Growth" by Barry Holman

Women in Prison

• ABC News Facts on Women in Prison

• Women In Prison

• "Women and Imprisonment in the u.s.: History and Current Reality" by Nancy Kurshan

• Self Defense is not a Crime: Some Facts on Domestic Violence

• Sisters Inside: Prisons and Social Control

Criminal Injustice Issues

• "American Correctional Association in Texas: Abuse and Profiteering Put Accreditation Under Scrutiny" by Ernesto Aguilar

• "Light From Darkness" by Webb Hubbell

• Left Behind: Tens of thousands of children have a parent behind bars. What are the social costs of their loss?

• "Watts, 1965: The Decline and Fall of the Spectacle-Commodity Economy" by Situationist International

• Crime, Injustice and Genocide Quiz

• Half-Truths: The Complicated Story of D.C.'s Halfway House "Escapees"

• "Prisons" by Huey P. Newton

• "Liberty and Justice for Some: Mass incarceration comes at a moral cost to every American" by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

• "Uncovering the Prison Industrial Complex" by Abbie Illenberger

• International Human Rights Standards Governing the Treatment of Prisoners

• Too Little Too Late: President Clinton's Prison Legacy

• Human Rights Abuses Against Prisoners

Isolation/Control Units

• "Control Units: Shut Them Down!" by National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons-West

• "Control Unit Prisons in Maryland" by Baltimore Anarchist Black Cross

• "Blueprint for Control Units" by Tommy Silverstein

• "Supermax and Control Unit Prisons" compiled by Alice Lynd

• Alan Berkman on Marion Control Unit

• Sanyika Shakur on Pelican Bay control unit

• "From Alcatraz to Marion to Florence: Control Unit Prisons in the United States" by the Committee to End the Marion Lockdown

• "High Tech Hellholes" by X-Shakur 2X Afrika

Prison Privitization

• "Comparing the Cost and Performance of Public and Private Prisons in Arizona: An Overview of the Study and Its Conclusions" by Charles Thomas, Ph.D.

• "A Comparative Recidivism Analysis of Releasees from Private and Public Prisons in Florida" by Lonn Lanza-Kaduce, J.D., Ph.D. & Karen F. Parker, Ph.D.

• Prisons: America's Newest Growth Industry

• Prisons May Not Help Economies

Prison Industrialization

• "The Prison-Industrial Complex & The Global Economy" by Eve Goldberg and Linda Evans

• "Out-Celling the Competition" by Dan Pens

• "Inside Private Prisons" by Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin

Medical Care and Neglect in Prisons

• "Incubating Disease: Prisons are rife with infectious ilnesses -- and threaten to spread them to the public" by William Speed Weed

• Four to Be Punished for Mistaken Jailing

• Medical Facts About Texas Prisons

• Prison Medical Case Summaries

Prison Labor

• Facts on Prison Labor in Texas

• "Prison labor versus private sector jobs" by Eric Badertscher

• "Prison Labor: Some Facts and Issues" by Karen Miller

• "Working for Nothing: The Failure of Prison Industry Programs" by Lucia Hwang

• "The Labor of Doing Time" by Julie Browne

• "The New Plantation" by Bill Dunne

Juvenile Justice Issues

• School House Hype: Two Years Later (2000)

• "Hard-Time Kids" by Sasha Abramsky

• "Off Balance: Youth, Race & Crime in the News" by Lori Dorfman, DrPH

• Schools and Suspensions: Self-Reported Crime and the Growing Use of Suspensions

• A Trend to Prison-Like Schools?

• "Money + Politics = Jailed Kids" by Vince Beiser and Karla Solheim

• "Wasted Youth" by Vince Beiser

• New York State of Mind?: Higher Education vs. Prison Funding in the Empire State, 1988-1998

• Fact Sheet: Florida's Experience with Trying Juveniles As Adults

Police/Policing Issues

• "Police Brutality Must Stop By Our Action" by Ali Khalid Abdullah

• The New Structure of Policing: Description, Conceptualization and Research Agenda

Drug War

• Drug Use and Justice: An Examination of California Drug Policy Enforcement

• "The war on (certain) drugs" by Noam Chomsky

• "Crime and the Drug War" by Kirby R. Cundiff, Ph.D.

• Double Jeopardy: An Assessment of the Felony Drug Provision of the Welfare Reform Act (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice)

• "Patchy Justice: Is a new drug test too error prone?" by Vince Beiser

• "Bad Investment...Take it from a businessman: the War on Drugs is just money down the drain" by New Mexico Governor Gary E. Johnson

• Poor Prescription: The Costs of Imprisoning Drug Offenders in the United States
  

Wrongful Convictions

• Primer on Wrongful Convictions

• "Convicting wrongfully" by Paul Craig Roberts

• Barrie Anderson, with Dawn Anderson, Manufacturing Guilt: Wrongful Convictions in Canada

• Wrongful Convictions Shockingly Common: Media, Scholars Often Become Condemned's Last Hope

• "Reversing Wrongful Convictions" by Cowling Investigations, Inc.

Poverty and Incarceration

• "Poverty, crime and self-esteem: the crucial connection - Interview with Benjamin Creme" by Monte Leach

• "It's A Crying Shame: Poverty and Hunger in a World of Plenty" by Jerome Scott and Walda Katz-Fishman

• Five myths about poverty

• "The needs of the poor come first: Interview with Devaki Jain" by Monte Leach

Homelessness and Incarceration

• "Community-Based Treatment: Impact of the Homeless Pretrial Release Project" by Alissa Riker and Ursula A. Castellano

• "Homelessness in Spain: 'We help them recover their self-esteem'" by Carmen Font

• "A roof is not enough: A look at homelessness worldwide" by Monte Leach

Alternatives to Prison

• "Alternatives: An Anarchist View of Prisons, Crime and Violence" by Michael Lee

• "What's the Alternative?" by Anne-Marie Cusac

• "Trading Textbooks for Prison Cells" by William J. Chambliss

• Survey Finds Wardens Want Crime Prevention Programs and Prison Alternatives -- Not Just Increased Incarceration

• "The Appearance Assistance Program: An Alternative To Detention For Noncitizens In U.S. Immigration Removal Proceedings" by Oren Root

• "Adolescent Portable Therapy (APT) for the Juvenile Justice System" by Jean Callahan

Interviews with ABC Groups

• 1998 Anarchist Black Cross Interview with 'Experimental' a Portugese zine

• Never forget: Interview with Anarchist Black Cross - Gent

Interviews with Prisoners

• Jeff "Free" Luers

• Imam Jamil Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown) [requires RealAudio]

• Self-Interview: Jeff "Free" Luers and Rob Thaxton (Rob Los Ricos)

Other Interviews

• Ward Churchill on COINTELPRO and the FBI [streaming MP3]

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