Mariame Kaba (2020) ‘So You’re Thinking about Becoming an Abolitionist [4 pages]
Aviah Sarah Day & Shanice Octavia McBean (2022). Thesis 1. A national abolitionist movement has erupted in Britain. Abolition is a tool to re-imagine revolutionary politics. Abolition Revolution. Pluto Press, pp. 3-17
Hajera Begum (2020) Rethinking Our Justice System: Abolition in the UK. Amaliah.com [5 pages]
Critical Resistance (no date) What is the Prison Industrial Complex? What is Abolition? [1 page]
Angela Davis. (2003) ‘Introduction: Prison Reform or Prison Abolition?; Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories Press, P. 9-21. Available from: [12 pages]
Link to the full book Are Prisons Obsolete?
Further readings:
Want to read more? Check out this additional readings
Historical Perspectives
John Moore (2025) Reflections on the Abolitionist Journal 1979-1987
Radical Alternatives to Prison (RAP) (1979) Editorial from the first issue of The Abolitionist (1 page)
Prison Research Education Action Project (1976) ‘Nine Perspectives for Prison Abolitionists’ from Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists. [2 pages]
Prison Research Education Action Project (1976)
‘Diminishing / Dismantling the Prison System,’ from Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists. [4 pages]
Mick Ryan and Joe Sim (2007) Campaigning for and campaigning against prisons: excavating and reaffirming the case for prison abolition. In: Jewkes, Y. (ed.) Handbook on Prisons. Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing, pp.696-718. [23 pages]
Contemporary Perspectives
Andrea J. Richie (2023). Practising New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies. The Forge. Excerpt from the book Practicing New Worlds: Abolition & Emergent Strategies — Interrupting Criminalization
Oonagh Ryder (2018) What does Justice Look like Without Prisons? Novaramedia.com [7 pages]
Rachel Kuchner (2019) Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore might change your mind. New York Times 17 April 2019. [9 page] Non-NYT/reposted version here.
Ruth Wilson Gilmore Makes the Case for Abolition. The Intercept Podcast. (Part 1: 54 min, Part 2: 31 min.) Transcript also available from link.
Julia Sudbury (now Julia Chinyere Opara) (2000) Transatlantic Visions: Resisting the Globalization of Mass Incarceration. Social Justice 27 (3), pp.133-149. [17 pages]
Syrus Ware, Joan Ruzsa and Giselle Dias (2014). It Can't Be Fixed Because It’s Not Broken: Racism and Disability in the Prison Industrial Complex.
Witlock, Kay (2016) Prison Reform Misdirection: 5 Caveats About Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration. Beacon Broadside.
David Scott / Open University / BBC Ideas (2020) What would a world without prisons look like? [Video - 5min]