Angela Davis Chapter Summaries

What once was used as a means of rehabilitation has now became a corrupted institution based upon the societal norms of the 21st century. In the novel, “Are Prisons Obsolete” by Angela Davis, she emphasizes the underlining problems faced within modern day prisons. More specifically on how the reformation of these prisons have ultimately backfired causing the number of imprisonments to sky rocket drastically. Which results in the concept of the prison system being a lot more harmful than helpful to the prison-based communities nationwide.

In 1969, Davis came back the America and joined several radical civil rights organizations. She was a member of the Communist Party, USA and a member of the Black Panther Party along with being an assistance professor at the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA). Governor at the time, Ronald Reagan, tried to terminate her position as UCLA professor because of her Communist affiliation, but that was overturned. Yet, devastation struck only a few months later.

Angela Davis is one of the most influential women when it comes to feminism, race, politics, to just name a few. She has paved the way for many generations of women to have a voice when they once wouldn’t. It is essential to realize that one can’t discuss feminism and black power without discussing Angela Davis. The reason I chose Angela Davis is because she is a household name that I have always heard, but had never known much of. I think it’s deeply important to understand the impact she’s had on the feminist movement, specifically for women of color.

Like Angela Davis, I believe that the prison system needs to be abolished. The prison system which is a significant part of punishment is incompetent and deeply flawed in the United States. Prison system reform needs immediate attention while abolition permanently will require time. Nietzsche’s theory of punishment explains how punishment come about in society and Davis’s critique of the prison system helps back my argument that the prison system needs to be abolished.

Some parts of the book highlight the social issue with incarceration while the other part there are political discussions of possible solutions to try and fix such a corrupted society.

Though most citizens in the United States would agree that the prison system in the U.S. needs to be amended, do they see the prison system as a way to enforce the racial caste system? At first Michelle Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow, did not see the prison systems as racially motivated until doing further research. After researching the issue, Alexander found the prison system was a way to oppress African Americans and wrote the novel The New Jim Crow. The New Jim Crow follows the history of the racial caste system and in the novel Alexander comes to the conclusion that the mass incarceration of African American is the New Jim Crow, or in other words a new system of black oppression. Though some might try to refute the idea of mass incarceration of African Americans, Alexander offers a well thought out argument with substantial evidence and data to compellingly link Jim Crow and mass incarceration and proves that it is an issue that should be on the radar of all U.S. citizens.

In part 3, Morris (2002, p.171) discusses why prison conditions matter and why penal reformers, including himself, have devoted their lives and travelled thousands of miles

MK Asante, in his book Buck: The Memoir, highlights the devastation of mass incarceration on the family structure and on individuals, particularly young individuals, who are incarcerated. Asante utilizes an informal tone and jargon the way in which the penal and justice systems dehumanizes those it is meant to reform. Asante’s informal approach and use of jargon turns the issue of mass incarceration into a conversation that engages readers. His feelings about the penal system and justice system are spelled out in the form of a narrative, thus making it easier for the reader to remain engaged. Brian Stevenson focuses on a variety of factors and their contribution to mass incarceration such as a lack of knowledge about mental health and the deterioration of one 's well being as a result of imprisonment. He utilizes anecdotes

Understandably, the correlation between American slavery and mass incarceration might seem uncanny because prisoners are not owned by anyone else. However, slaves and prisoners experience a similar loss of liberties and possessions, which is the defining characteristic of enslavement. Locke’s distinction between unjustified and justified slavery helps to solidify the interrelationship between American slavery and present-day mass incarceration.

This “war on drugs,” which all subsequent presidents have embraced, has created a behemoth of courts, jails, and prisons that have done little to decrease the use of drugs while doing much to create confusion and hardship in families of color and urban communities.1,2Since 1972, the number of people incarcerated has increased 5-fold without a comparable decrease in crime or drug use.1,3 In fact, the decreased costs of opiates and stimulants and the increased potency of cannabis might lead one to an opposing conclusion.4 Given the politics of the war on drugs, skyrocketing incarceration rates are deemed a sign of success, not failure. I don’t totally agree with the book (I think linking crime and black struggle is even older than she does, for instance) but I think The New Jim Crow pursues the right line of questioning. “The prison boom is not the main cause of inequality between blacks and whites in America, but it did foreclose upward mobility

Davis reveals that race and gender has played a huge role in our nation 's history. What is very interesting is the fact that she takes these topics and goes with it in two totally different directions. She does elaborate the importance of how race and gender plays a massive role in her belief of prisons as sites of massive inequality but she casts a much broader light on other things. The function and pure nature of the prison system is also shaped in a questionable way. This also shines light towards our society that relies so heavily on incarceration. The discussion is then shifted away from questions about crime and punishment and toward concerns for social justice and human rights. The racial aspects of her findings will largely be familiar to anyone who has thought seriously about prisons before the excess

During my interview with Gary Davis, he stated that before he read my essay, he used to think that prisoners deserved to be in jail and that it didn’t matter to him what happens to those prisoners because they shouldn’t have violated the law. Davis also stated that after he finished reading my essay, he felt that, as human beings prisoners should have the right to not be punished in such cruel way that causes psychological side effects that could in turn affect us whenever those prisoners are reincorporated into society. In addition, the reader pointed out that the only knowledge he had about prisoners is that they are some really bad criminals in jail. Davis stated that he didn’t know the different types of prisons and also that he wasn’t

At one period, Davis had become an ardent supporter of three prison inmates of Soledad Prison known as the Soledad brothers. Although, she was not related these three men — John W. Cluchette, Fleeta Drumgo and George Lester Jackson (Biography, 2018). She found interest in them because they were unjustly being accused of killing a prison guard after several African-American inmates had been killed in a fight by another guard. Some thought these prisoners were being used as scapegoats because of the political work within the prison (Biography, 2018). She became involved in the case of the Soledad Brothers, a group of prisoners at Soledad Prison.

Within this paper, you will find a comprehensive review of the United States prison system, and why it needs to analyzed to better support and reform the people of this country. I plan to persuade the other side (politicians and society) into seeing that the way the prison system is now, is not ethical nor economical and it must change. We have one of the world’s largest prison population, but also a very high rate of recidivism. Recidivism is when the prisoners continuously return to prison without being reformed. They return for the same things that they were doing before. So, this leads us to ask what exactly are we doing wrong? When this happens, we as a nation must continuously pay to house and feed these inmates. The purpose of a prison needs to be examined so we can decide if we really are reforming our inmates, or just continuing a vicious cycle. What is the true purpose of prison besides just holding them in a cell? There must be more we can do for these hopeless members of society.

Angela Y. Davis, the author of Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex, shows how private organizations benefit from the incarceration of expanding quantities of people of color. Davis argues that in spite of the fact that the jail blast has expanded the benefits of worldwide partnerships, it “devours the social wealth” of our groups by depleting them of their human and monetary assets. Davis thesis is where she states that the political economy of detainment facilities depends on racialized presumptions of criminality. The cycle continues of the racist laws which follows into racist prison system which then follows to racist policing practices. The prison industrial system materially and morally ruins its occupants and