A

13. Abolition Dr Miyake Guest Lecture

Introduction

  • Speaker: Dr. Keith Miyake (they/them pronouns)

  • Position: Assistant Professor in Ethnic Studies

  • Previous Work: Environmental engineer, K-12 public school teacher

  • Course Topics: Prisons/incarcerality, race and the environment, race, class, gender, Asian American studies

Understanding Abolition Through Carcerality

Carcerality Defined

  • Definition: Systems of confinement, punishment, exclusion, and othering that discipline and segregate people.

  • Concept of carceral geographies: Spatial manifestations of carcerality, including prisons, police, borders, etc.

Relationship Among Carceral Structures

  • Police: Enforce division, brutality, and capture.

  • Prisons: Incarcerate, punish, expose to preventable death.

  • Borders: Mark individuals as other, detain, deport, and break community ties.

Other Forms of Carcerality

  • Includes slavery and Indian boarding schools.

  • All are interconnected in shaping resistance and opposition.

Geography of Carcerality

  • Operates spatially, affecting marginalized populations while facilitating capitalism.

  • Geographical task of abolition involves reshaping spaces and visions of democracy.

Critique of Prisons

Problems with Prisons

  • Prisons punish without reducing harms, exposing individuals to premature death.

  • Prisons are historically rooted in racial oppression, specifically targeting Black populations post-slavery.

  • The penitentiary system established as a reformative measure has failed its rehabilitative mission.

Overrepresented Populations in Prisons

  • Vulnerable populations: queer, trans, disabled, poor, houseless, sex workers, immigrants, and BIPOC.

  • Criminalization is a means to manage perceived social vices and disenfranchisement.

State Accountability

  • State failure to provide basic needs leads to criminalized behaviors.

  • The criminal justice system is rooted in structural oppressions.

The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC)

Overview and Definition

  • PIC: Network of relationships between penal institutions, the state, and industries profiting from incarceration.

  • Characterized by industrialized punishment and mass incarceration.

Social Impacts of the PIC

  • Addresses social issues through criminalization rather than direct support.

  • Focus on crime diverts attention from structural issues causing crime.

Historical Context

  • Post-civil rights movement saw an increase in punitive policies rooted in racism.

  • Law and order narratives gained momentum despite decreasing crime rates, leading to increased incarceration.

The Effects of Incarceration

Economic and Social Costs

  • Prisons disrupt communities, families, and economies, generating a cycle of harm.

  • Public expenditures on incarceration detract from social services.

Reformist vs. Abolitionist Approaches

Reformist Reforms

  • Improve systems without addressing root issues.

  • Examples: body cameras, community policing, restructuring rather than dismantling.

Abolitionist Reforms

  • Seek to eliminate oppressive systems entirely.

  • Focus on structural changes, reducing police, and community-based solutions. Examples include:

    • Closing prisons

    • Community-controlled services instead of punitive systems

    • Decarceration efforts without monitoring.

Carceral Feminism vs. Abolition Feminism

Carceral Feminism

  • Uses the criminal justice system to address intimate partner violence.

  • Expands the PIC without solving root issues.

Abolition Feminism

  • Rejects reliance on state violence for redressing gender-based harms.

  • Prioritizes community safety, accountability, and addressing systemic issues.

Transformative Justice

  • Framework prioritizing community resolution of harms without carceral systems.

  • Develop social structures to mediate and address harm responsibly.

  • Acknowledges and targets underlying conditions fostering harm.

Mutual Aid

  • A radical form of community care based on solidarity rather than charity.

  • Operates outside state control, aiming to transform relationships and society.

Conclusion

  • Importance of understanding and addressing the complexities of carcerality and abolition.

  • Call to engage in courses and discussions to explore these themes further.

  • “If you build them, you have to fill them”