Dylan Matthews recently published an article at Vox titled Prisons are terrible, and there’s finally a way to get rid of them. Matthews’ article starts out strong, beginning with an explanation of the horrific costs of prisons. He describes the appalling rates of physical and sexual assault, the data on systemic racism, and the costs…

Brazil is a violent country. A sizable part of the population experiences many aggressions in its streets. However, violence in Brazil is present in prisons too. There, it can take very subtle forms, which very few people – except those who suffer from it – come to know about. Among these subtle forms of violence are…

This is the second part of my series on Gus DiZerega’s view of libertarianism and private prisons. Gus writes: Non-profits often pad the salaries of their top people, especially big ones. Padded salaries come from shifting resources away from other purposes, like that sheriff in Marion County. Just because something is a nonprofit does not…

Gus DiZerega recently published a blog post about libertarian ideology and private prisons. He quoted a Facebook comment I left on a status update about the topic. This blog post constitutes a response to Gus. A comment will also be posted on his blog. The reader is encouraged to check it out. In said piece;…

There’s a lot of news and information related to prisons, policing, borders, and other facets of the prison state. In previous editions of the Weekly Abolitionist, I have tried to fit multiple stories into one theme or analytic frame. This week, however, I’ve encountered a diverse enough range of articles relating to these issues that…

A recent article by Deborah Small at Salon raises some genuinely valuable points about the likely pitfalls of prison reform and the broad scope of the problem of criminalization. Yet the headline, and the later paragraphs, package these important and interesting points into yet another one of the “progressives should fear and despise libertarians” pieces…

These days, some policy makers are discussing rolling back America’s system of mass incarceration. Figures from Eric Holder to Rand Paul are proposing eliminating many mandatory minimum sentences. States like Colorado are legalizing marijuana. But while some policy makers talk about shrinking the prison state, prison expansion continues to be pushed and passed by legislators….

State violence thrives in the dark. This is why the state secrets privilege is so abused, it’s why the Obama administration has viciously persecuted whistleblowers, and it’s why states benefit from a  media climate where their legitimacy is assumed and radical ideas aren’t heard. So today I want to highlight some people both inside and…

When the basic premise of the drug war is that we do not own our own bodies, the recurring theme of police sexual assault in the media over the last several months seem less like freak occurrence and more like an expected, perhaps its inevitable outcome. Last year there was the police rape of a New Mexico…

In California, prisoners are fighting back against appalling human rights violations. Their hunger strike is into its third week, with nearly 1,000 inmates still participating. When the strike began, 30,000 prisoners refused meals. The prisoners are striking against long term solitary confinement, a punishment recognized as a form of torture by sources as diverse as…

Today I had the great pleasure of appearing on my friend Jake Shannon’s radio show. Mostly we discussed WikiLeaks whistleblower Pfc. Manning, and the work I’m doing with Freedom Torch in Salt Lake to stand in solidarity with Manning and other whistleblowers. C4SS was one of the first sponsors of the Freedom Torch Parade. While whistleblowers were the…

Goodman: Human rights organizations shouldn’t be in the business of handing out awards, accolades and executive positions to human rights abusers.

Dan D’Amico presents a concise explanation of the structural racism in the state’s “justice” system.

Neste Natal, peço encarecidamente a você que mantenha as famílias juntas. Rogo que você se articule contra o complexo industrial prisional e o aparato do estado que já fizeram em pedaços tantas famílias.

This Christmas, I urge you to keep families together. I urge you to organize against the prison industrial complex and the state apparatus that have broken so many families apart.

The conversation on prison profiteering and the American state’s slave trade hits the radio!

In this episode of Speaking On Liberty Kyle Platt and Jason Lee Byas interview C4SS and the Independent Institute fellow Anthony Gregory.

To hear a government official come right out and admit they’re creating a shadow legal system is incredible – and terrifying.

Sometimes “privatization” means more government power, not less.