Prisons are obsolete: the extinction project of the Prison Institution in Angela Davis’s work

Authors

  • Jade Oliveira Faculdade de Direito da Universidade do Porto
  • Giovane Sanin Federal University of Mato Grosso

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46269/10121.551

Keywords:

Prisons, Industrial Complex, Racism, Capitalism

Abstract

This essay consists of a schematic assessment of capitalist factors, such as industrial complex formed around the prison institution, which provides for the monetization of the Mass Incarceration, present in the works “Are prisons obsolete?” (2018) and “Freedom is a Constant Struggle” (2018), by the activist and intellectual Angela Davis. Our focus will be consistent with the approach given by the author in the critical reference on the movement of contesting the interests that serve as the base for the imprisonment of the black body: the industrial complex, the military, the medical, the university complex, connected with structural Racism and Xenophobia. We will highlight how Davis's work points to the need to detach crime from the retributive idea of punishment through the Anti-Prison movement and the promotion of the Restorative Education and Justice systems as a possible alternative to Prisons and the exploitation they represent.

Author Biography

Giovane Sanin, Federal University of Mato Grosso

Titulação Doutorando em Ciências Sociais pela Universidade do Rio dos Sinos. Mestre e Especialista em Ciências Criminais pela PUC/RS. Professor de Direito Penal e Processo Penal da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso.

References

DAVIS, Angela Yvonne. Arbitrary Justice, the Power of the American Prosecutor. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

DAVIS, Angela Yvonne. A Democracia da Abolição: para além do império, das prisões e da tortura. Rio de Janeiro: Difel, 2009.

DAVIS, Angela Yvonne. A Liberdade é uma Luta Constante. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2018a.

DAVIS, Angela Yvonne. Estarão as prisões obsoletas?. Rio de Janeiro: Difel, 2018b.

FOUCAULT, Michel. Vigiar e punir: nascimento da prisão. 27. ed. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1987.

MBEMBE, Achille. Necropolítica. 3. ed. São Paulo: N-1 edições, 2018.

Published

2022-12-05