Prisons don’t solve the problem, they are the problem!
October 1st, 2008
by Nicole Hsiang
Last weekend, Critical Resistance held a national, free conference called CR10, as a tribute to the conference that happened ten years ago in Berkeley where CR was first born. Thousands of people from around the country came together to share experiences, work, and built community around the struggle to stop the expansion of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). The common vision of the growing movement is the belief that the PIC, like slavery, will one day be abolished.
Thanks to the activism of prisoners and their supporters and advocates, this crucial issue has gained increasing attention and concern nationwide. The CR conference gave me hope that there is a solid, diverse coalition of people who share the understanding that locking people up in jails serves as merely a bad Band-Aid for our own faults as a society. Instead of ensuring a true sense of peace and safety in our community, our government has invested $50 billion of our tax dollars in building more prisons and putting more police in our schools and neighborhoods. At the same time, much-needed social services and public education are failing due to lack of funds.
The statistics about incarceration speak for themselves. Right now, there’s an estimated 2,339,457 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails. 68% are people of color. One in three Black men will end up in jail. This disproportionate number bluntly illustrates the systemic racism of our society.
Although the population of women prisoners is smaller than that of men, in 1990 it was reported that 80% of women were incarcerated for nonviolent crimes, such as drug-related offenses, prostitution, and theft. Here’s another disturbing fact: 6/10 women prisoners are survivors of sexual violence.
The PIC perpetuates a continuous cycle of oppression. I recall an interview I had with Susan Quinlan of Agape fiscally sponsored group Better Alternatives for Youth (BAY-Peace) that works to de-recruit youth of color from joining the military, where she said that a young person of color who has suffered or grown up with intense trauma, poverty, and violence in their community has few choices for the future: “military or prison.” It’s no wonder so many youth join the military, as it often represents their only means of hope and survival.
In accordance with our mission to support social change for peace and justice, the Agape Foundation expresses its commitment to work for prisoner rights, fighting the death penalty and advocating for societal change that ensures affordable access to housing, healthcare, education, food, and jobs for all people.
We have awarded grants to the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (Spring 2006), Campaign to End the Death Penalty (Fall 2004, Spring 2007), California Coalition for Women Prisoners (Fall 1995), Prison Activist Resource Center (Fall 2000), and the Insight Garden Program at San Quentin. We also have provided fiscal sponsorship for the Insight Garden Project at San Quentin, California People of Faith Working Against the Death Penalty, and the Yuri Kochiyama Fund for Political Prisoners.
