Essay revised

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Wisline Fontilus

Prof: Anthony

English24

03/26/2021

Essay on Angela Davis’ Book “Are Prisons Obsolete?”

Angela Yvonne Davis advocates for abolishing prison systems in her book "are prisons

obsolete." She used the term obsolete to mean the prisons are no longer useful and therefore should

be abolished. She believes that prisons no longer serve the purpose they were created for. (Davis,

2003).Prisons were meant to ensure justice and reduce crime rates, but right now, the situation in

prison is so heartbreaking. Prisoners are maltreated, and their civil rights are violated in the name

of punishment. There is also increased racial discrimination in the prison system. In this same

book, Angela recommends using other alternatives to provide justice rather than prison reforms

since reforms are broken every day; hence, the use of reforms is not effective in improving the

current prison system situation. Angela incorporates several techniques to make her argument

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convincing and compelling. She uses quotes, statistics, historical information, personal experience,

and information from other experts. This essay focuses on Angela's main argument and how she

uses different techniques to bring out her argument.

Professor Davis' main argument is about the complete abolishment of prison and

implementing other ways of administering justice and reducing crime rates. She acknowledges that

people are used to prison so much that they cannot imagine life without prisons. People depend on

imprisonment as the only way to administer justice. She talks of her personal experience as an

antiprison activist; she witnessed the number of prisoners increase rapidly. It was evident that

going to prison was more accessible than getting a quality education. Increased number of prisons

equates to increased crime rates. It is even surprising that people with mental problems are many in

prisons as compared to psychiatric hospitals. To replace prisons, Angela pushes for improvements

in the education system, a healthcare system that provides free health and mental care, and a justice

system that focuses on repairing and reconciliation rather than revenge. She recommends that

society work out ways to reduce incarceration by transforming social issues such as male

dominance and racism. The success of the attempts to reduce incarceration will lead to

demarcation, which advances prison abolishment.

Angela Davis uses several quotes from experts to build her argument effectively. She uses

these quotes to provide pieces of evidence for the basis of her argument; hence she has used the

technique of quotes effectively. The first quote she used was, "Advocates of incarceration hoped

that the penitentiary would rehabilitate its inmates. Whereas philosophers perceived a ceaseless

state of war between chattel slaves and their masters, criminologists hoped to negotiate a peace

treaty of sorts within the prison walls. Yet herein lurked a paradox: if the penitentiary's internal

regime resembled that of the plantation so closely that the two were often loosely equated, how

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could the prison possibly function to rehabilitate criminals?" by Adam Jay Hirsch. Professor Davis

uses this quote to illustrate how many people end up in jail without significant debate on why they

are incarcerated. This increase is connected to social issues such as racism, male dominance, and

class bias.

The second quote used is "One should recall that the movement for reforming the prisons,

for controlling their functioning is not a recent phenomenon. It does not even seem to have

originated in recognition of failure. Prison' reform' is virtually contemporary with the prison itself:

it constitutes, as it were, its programmed." by Michel Foucault. She used this quote to reinforce that

prison reforms are ineffective and wouldn't improve the current prison systems. The situation in

jails and prisons has gone bad beyond the use of reforms.

The other quote used is, "I have been told that I will never leave prison if I continue to fight

the system. My answer is that one must be alive in order to leave prison, and our current standard

of medical care is tantamount to a death sentence. Therefore, I have no choice but to continue . . .

Conditions within the institution continually re-invoke memories of violence and oppression, often

with devastating results. Unlike other incarcerated women who have come forward to reveal their

impressions of prison, I do not feel 'safer' here because 'the abuse has stopped.' It has not stopped.

It has shifted shape and paced itself differently, but it is as insidious and pervasive in prison as ever

it was in the world I know outside these walls. What has ceased is my ignorance of the facts

concerning abuse-and my willingness to tolerate it in silence." by Marcia Bunny. She uses this

quote to express the torture women go through in the women's prisons. Women are molested and

maltreated with prison attendance, all in the name of gender discrimination. She notes that the

number of women is increasing in prisons because the state has failed to address women's issues;

hence they resort to crimes to meet their needs.

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The fourth quote used is, "For private business prison labor is like a pot of gold. No strikes.

No union organizing. No health benefits, unemployment insurance, or workers' compensation to

pay. No language barriers, as in foreign countries. New leviathan prisons are being built on

thousands of eerie acres of factories inside the walls. Prisoners do data entry for Chevron, make

telephone reservations for TWA, raise hogs, shovel manure, and make circuit boards, limousines,

waterbeds, and lingerie for Victoria's Secret, all at a fraction of the cost of 'free labor.'" by Linda

Evans and Eve Goldberg. she uses this quote to explain how prisoners are forced to give out free

labor. They work so hard on farms but are not paid even a single penny.

She uses information from other experts in her arguments, such as Mariamme Kaba's

information in her book 'Yes, we mean Literally Abolish the Police.' Kaba advocates for abolishing

police forces due to an increase in police misconduct such as violence, discrimination, and sexual

immorality. (Kaba, 2020)These same cases are witnessed in Angela's book. Police reforms have

been used to eradicate such misconduct, but the situation worsens each day. The same measure has

been used in prisons, but still, prisons' conditions are not improving. Women are discriminated

against and mistreated, especially the black ones, and they're also sexually assaulted within the

prisons. Angela uses information from Kaba's book about reforms to emphasize that reforms are

broken every day by the prison officers for they feel they are above the law. Therefore the only

way to reduce crime rates and administer justice is to abolish prisons and look for other alternative

strategies and institutions that can replace prisons. Therefore she has used this approach effectively

to bring more evidence as to why prison reforms are not effective.

Professor Davis uses statistics as a technique to build her argument. Angela records that

about two million people in the US, 20% of the nine million world's population of people in

prisons, indicate that the US has the largest population of prisoners in the whole world. She states

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that there are now 33 prisons, 38 camps, and 16community correctional facilities in California. She

mentioned that in 2002, approximately157 979 people were detained. The majority of the prisoners

are Latinos, 35.2 % of total prisoners, followed by African-Americans who occupy 30 %, and

finally, the white prisoners who occupy about 29.2 percent. She also mentions that California has

the largest women's prison in the world. For example, Valley State Prison for Women in California

has more than thirty-five hundred women prisoners. Angela uses these statistics to depict the actual

situation in the prisons suing figures. Figures are quantifiable, and therefore it is much easier to

understand.

In conclusion, Angela has used several approaches to bring out her argument, and she has

used them effectively. From her viewpoint, I support her stand to advocate for prison abolishment.

For example, she uses her personal experience to elaborate how it was surprising to see the number

of prisoners increasing at a very high rate. This is very ironic since prisons are supposed to act as

an avenue for crime reduction. From her argument, it is true to say the prisons have become

obsolete.

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References

Davis, Angela Y. (2003) Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Open Media.

Kaba, M. (2020). Yes, we mean literally abolish the police. Abolition Library Commons.