Angela Y. Davis’s Are Prisons Obsolete? is a searing and foundational text that deconstructs the pervasive and insidious nature of the prison industrial complex (PIC). In this concise yet profoundly impactful work, Davis challenges us to reconsider the very existence of prisons as a necessary institution, exposing how deeply intertwined they are with racial, colonial, and capitalist systems of oppression.

One of the most striking aspects of Davis’s analysis is her ability to lay bare the logic of prisons, dragging it out into the light for examination. She invites readers to question what many of us have passively accepted: the abhorrent notion that it is somehow acceptable to treat human beings as discardable. This is particularly evident when Davis excerpts Elliott Currie’s assertion that prisons are "the most thoroughly implemented government social program of our time." This quote starkly illustrates that prisons are not designed to protect society, but to control marginalized populations, particularly those from racially oppressed communities.

Davis's exploration of the historical parallels between slavery and the modern prison system is deeply illuminating. She argues that just as slavery, lynching, and segregation were once considered as everlasting as the sun, so too is the prison today—a notion that must be dismantled if we are to achieve true justice. Her analysis reveals how the rise of mass incarceration has been fueled by the same racist and capitalist logics that sustained slavery, with the PIC emerging as something like a new plantation. This connection is not only a powerful critique of the past but a call to action against the ongoing exploitation and dehumanization of incarcerated people.

The book also emphasizes the ideological work that prisons perform in our society. By existing simultaneously as a presence and an absence in our lives, prisons allow us to ignore the root causes of social problems, particularly those produced by racism and global capitalism. Davis forces us to confront the uncomfortable truth that prisons relieve us of the responsibility to seriously engage with these issues, thereby perpetuating the very conditions that lead to incarceration.

Davis does not shy away from the gargantuan task of prison abolition. Instead, she insists that we must confront and restructure the social relations that support the permanence of prisons. Her suggestion that replacing prisons will require a multitude of different structures and processes—without recreating the harms of prisons—is a powerful reminder that abolition is not just about tearing down, but about building up a more just and equitable society.

As someone deeply invested in abolition, I found Are Prisons Obsolete? to be just as timeless and essential on my second read. Davis challenges us not only to question the existence of prisons but to imagine a world without them—a world where no person is discardable, and where justice is pursued not through punishment, but through care, community, and collective liberation.

📖 Recommended For: Readers who are passionate about social justice and liberation, those interested in abolishing systems of oppression, anyone seeking a foundational understanding of prison abolition, fans of Mikki Kendall and adrienne maree brown.

🔑 Key Themes: Prison Industrial Complex, Racial and Colonial Capitalism, State Violence, Social Control vs. Protection, Abolitionist Futures, Intersectionality and Marginalization.