Mass Incarceration

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• SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer
  6/8/2022
  

  Inventing Solitary Confinement

  Kali Nicole Gross, Ashley Rubin, Jen Manion and Paul Takagi offer insight into the historical irony of modern incarceration's roots in Philadelphia, the nominal cradle of American liberty. 

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• SOURCE: WORT
  12/20/2021
  

  Heather Ann Thompson on Mass Incarceration

  Karma Chávez guest hosts a wide-ranging conversation with historian Heather Ann Thompson about policing, mass incarceration, and why overhauling the criminal justice system is the civil rights issue of our time.

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• SOURCE: The Metropole
  12/14/2021
  

  Introducing “Disciplining The Nation”

  by Matt Guariglia and Charlotte Rosen

  "Rooted in racial slavery, settler colonialism, and U.S. empire, policing and incarceration in the United States were slowly and meticulously built over time for the purpose of subordinating, punishing, and exploiting populations –and historians have the documents to prove it."

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• SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer
  12/15/2021
  

  Philadelphia DA: Prosecutors Hid Evidence for Years in a 2003 Murder Case

  Prosecutors in Philadelphia are accused of withholding evidence that undermined the credibility of key witnesses in the case, a pattern that critics argue has been widespread.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/23/2021
  

  Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

  by Ben Austen and Khalil Gibran Muhammad

  Tough-on-crime laws that forbid discretionary parole emerged in the 1970s. A historical perspective suggests they've failed, keeping people in prison long after doing so protects society. 

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• SOURCE: Gothamist
  9/9/2021
  

  What Set the Stage for Rebellion and Violence at Attica

  Tyrone Larkins, Alhajji Sharif and Akil Shaquan were incarcerated at Attica 50 years ago. Hear their story about conditions in the prison and the events of the riot and its brutal suppression. Also features an interview with historian Heather Ann Thompson.

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• SOURCE: The Nation
  9/13/2021
  

  Honoring Attica After Half a Century

  by Heather Ann Thompson

  Activists both inside and outside of prisons in the 1960s and 1970s confronted the violence of the state. Accountability for law enforcement is still an unrealized legacy of the 1971 Attica rebellion. 

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• SOURCE: TIME
  9/8/2021
  

  50 Years Since Attica, Will America Observe the Human Rights of Prisoners?

  by Heather Ann Thompson

  "The Attica prison uprising was historic because these men spoke directly to the public, and by doing so, they powerfully underscored to the nation that serving time did not make someone less of a human being." 

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• SOURCE: New York Post
  9/4/2021
  

  Daughter of Slain Attica Prison Guard Demands Apology from New York State

  After New York State has approved a reparation fund for the surviving prisoners of the 1971 Attica riots, is it time for similar justice for the employees caught in the violence of the state's response? 

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• SOURCE: New York Post
  7/5/2021
  

  The New York Post Would Like You to Get Mad about a Yale Course Comparing Incarceration in the US and Stalinist USSR

  Timothy Snyder and Jason Stanley plan to team-teach a course examining the comparative history of mass imprisonment in the two empires. 

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  6/16/2021
  

  Inhumane System of Incarceration in U.S. Poses Special Danger to Women

  by Jessica L. Adler

  When politicians close single prisons after complaints of abuse, they leave untouched a cruel and dehumanizing system that poses particular risk to women. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  5/7/2021
  

  The Emerging Movement for Police and Prison Abolition

  by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

  Organizer Mariame Kaba is one of the leading public intellectuals behind the movement for the abolition of the institutions of policing and prisons and for a politics that imagines more humane alternatives. 

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• SOURCE: Insurrect: Radical Thinking in Early American Studies
  5/10/2021
  

  "Abolition Is...": A Roundtable

  Several young scholar/activists reflect on how historical analysis can inform the contemporary prison abolition movement and alternative approaches to justice. 

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• SOURCE: The Marshall Project
  5/14/2021
  

  I Survived Prison During The AIDS Epidemic. Here’s What It Taught Me About Coronavirus

  by Richard Rivera

  Like the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, imprisoned people at risk of COVID-19 find that suspicion, paranoia and isolation have taken the place of meaningful support. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  1/28/2021
  

  UCLA Wins $3.65-Million Grant to Build ‘Age of Mass Incarceration’ Archive with LAPD Records

  In addition to 177 boxes of LAPD records, which the university fought for and won access to in court, the project will seek out and include oral histories and other ephemera from community members who were affected by the region’s aggressive criminal justice pipelines, said professor Kelly Lytle Hernández.

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• SOURCE: ROAR
  1/23/2021
  

  Anything is Possible: Toward an Abolitionist Vision

  by Marc Lamont Hill

  Abolitionism is about more than dismantling prisons. It is also about building a world with universal access to safety, self-determination, freedom and dignity.

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• SOURCE: The Metropole
  1/4/2021
  

  Disciplining The City: Scholarship And The Carceral State Year In Review 2020

  Charlotte Rosen and Matthew Guariglia compile 2020's most essential works of scholarship on the nexus of urbanization, racism, policing, and mass incarceration. 

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• SOURCE: Mississippi Free Press
  12/15/2020
  

  UM Fires History Professor Who Criticizes ‘Powerful, Racist Donors’ And ‘Carceral State’

  University of Mississippi historian Garrett Felber was notified that his tenure-track position will be terminated in one year. His research addressed the politics of racism and mass incarceration and connected to activism on behalf of incarcerated people. Colleagues suspect that donors to the university pushed for his termination. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/15/2020
  

  Abolition is Not Complete

  by Eric Foner

  The exception included in the 13th Amendment allowing involuntary labor on conviction of a crime was a holdover from prior laws; its authors certainly never intended to enable a system of prison labor, and the amendment should be amended. 

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• SOURCE: Skipped History
  11/3/2020
  

  Do Daniel Patrick Moynihan's Issues with his Father Help Explain Mass Incarceration?

  by Ben Tumin

  Ben Tumin's "Skipped History" video series tackles the legacy of the Moynihan Report through the work of historians Elizabeth Hinton and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.