ipl-logo

Are Prison Angela Davis Summary

1125 Words5 Pages

Sofia Garbenis
05/14/2018
PHI 115
Final Essay
Anjela Davis – Are Prisons Obsolete?
The theme of the prisons, the living conditions of prisoners, the justice of punishments, and the sense of deprivation of liberty becomes one of the key topics of public discussion. Angela Davis in her article sets out a contrast between the early ideas of the purpose of the prison (as captured in the ideas of John Howard and Jeremy Bentham) and the prisons of today. John Howard published The State of the Prisons. His writing clearly expressed the idea that a prison should correct criminals in the interests of society. The utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham published his letters on a prison model which he called the Panopticon (page 384). In his …show more content…

Howard's work and Bentham's Panopticon are both centered around the same idea that people are responsible for their actions. By acting immorally and against the laws the person should have civil rights and not being the tool in someone else political and economic manipulations. In general, the concept of the modern prison system was born influenced by the works introduced by Howard and Bentham. Their revolutionary at that time ideas influenced the establishment of the first criminal rehabilitation centers. The main purpose of these centers was to distant the prisoners away from other people as part of their punishment and not simply as a holding state until trial. Angela Davis states that: "What was once regarded as progressive and even revolutionary represents today the marriage of technological superiority and political backwardness". (390) Any social structure can be seen as a logical product of its previous historical formations, and these previous forms bear significant influence on later forms. However, the current prison system has mutated. In addition to being increasingly repressive, its present existence raises the question about the effectiveness and the …show more content…

The research should take into the account all the requirements of the legal methodological reform. The change in the system requires changes in legislation, retraining of judges and representatives of law enforcement agencies. This is a difficult process that no one wants to launch nowadays. The problem of crime and relapse is a global problem that is recognized by the politicians of many countries but it is getting hushed up. This happens because the crimes lead to loss of income, and with a high level of relapse - to an increase in the cost of the penal system. But no one estimated the volume of losses on any global scale, for example, on the EU scale. This should be done to draw attention to the problem, thereby confirming the need to combat it, but shifting the focus from the fear of the population to crime to financial expenditures. Such a way will openly raise this issue at the international level, convincing politicians that the discussion does not carry any risks for them. In dealing with such a radical project as prison abolition, the society should decide how such a broad and multipurpose attack on this institution can look and what alternatives can be presented instead of imprisonment. Those who deal with the immediate problems of crime and violence in their communities and in their personal lives can try to

Show More
Related
540 Words | 3 Pages

Journal Response Angela Davis In the book Are Prisons obsolete? Davis describes the role of prison industrial complex in the rise of prisons. Prison industrial complex is a term used to characterize the overlapping interests of government and industry that use policing, surveillance and imprisonment as a result to social, economic and political problems. Private prisons operate a lot differently from prisons that aren’t private.

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

Davis also notes, the growth of the penal industry within the last three decades in particular, and the last century more generally, is also related to the backlash against emancipatory movements worldwide. In the United States, the end of slavery and the growth of civil rights of African American people were clearly related to the exponential growth of the rate of imprisonment of black people in America. Again,Davis argues just as the end of slavery was once seen as unimaginable, current thinking would have us all believe that it is impossible to imagine the end of

Read More
1186 Words | 5 Pages

Halfway through the 18th century, the United States was serving as a model for prisons. Dix was revolutionary in reforming prisons. She convinced states to invest in libraries, basic education, and more care for the men, women, and even children imprisoned in the jails and penitentiaries whereas abuse regularly occurred (Parry). Pennsylvania was a key role model for prisons all over the United States. This state’s prisons were known for having “two of the best prisons in the world” (“Prison and Asylum

Read More
1396 Words | 6 Pages

In “Are Prisons Obsolete,” Angela Davis, an American activist who served 16 months in prison before being acquitted, argues that today's prison systems fail to address the root causes of crime. Despite their intended purpose, prisons lack the structure needed to rehabilitate inmates. We become so quick to assume that imprisoning criminals leads to a safer environment. As prisons continue to expand and their inmate population rises, they become embedded in society's norms without the consent of the people or critical examination of their effectiveness. Davis argues for reform, noting that the current system has serious flaws in addressing criminal behavior, as she believes crime will continue to persist and keep growing exponentially within

Read More
1074 Words | 5 Pages

Eduardo Mendieta constructs an adequate response to Angela Davis’ Are Prisons Obsolete? in his article, The Prison Contract and Surplus Punishment: On Angela Y. Davis’ Abolitionism. While Mendieta discusses the pioneering abolitionist efforts of Angela Davis, the author begins to analyze Davis’ anti-prison narrative, ultimately agreeing with Davis’ polarizing stance. Due to the fact Mendieta is so quick to begin analyzing Davis’ work, the article’s author inadvertently makes several assumptions about readers of his piece. For instance, Mendieta assumes that readers will automatically be familiar with Angela Davis.

Read More
1421 Words | 6 Pages

provides support for the level of applicability King’s claims about justice and injustice have in regards to the current U.S. prison system. As an exemplar, Davis writes, “In 1777, John Howard, the leading Protestant proponent of penal reform in England, published The State of the Prisons, in which he conceptualized imprisonment as an occasion for religious self-reflection and self-reform” (Davis 45-46). This illustrates Howard’s view on the purpose of imprisonment, one that has clearly not been incorporated into the current U.S. prison system. Howard’s perspective is significant because it displays the gradual metamorphosis of the purpose of imprisonment from self-reform to profit. The creation of private prisons for the sole purpose of profit is inhumane and the white Americans who contributed to its implementation should be imprisoned for life instead.

Read More
518 Words | 3 Pages

It is often difficult for people to question the standards of modern-day society, especially the prejudiced norms present in the United States. A particular establishment historically justified is prisons, which many deem an acceptable punishment for crime. However, criticisms have surfaced about their foundations and operations in contemporary times. Political activist Angela Davis wrote an argumentative composition, Are Prisons Obsolete, which considers the cruciality of imprisonment and questions the societal need for institutions made especially for punishment. At the core of her consideration of abolishing incarnation institutions, Davis suggests her readers are to humanize their perceptions of those who have been ostracized in society for their wrongdoings by analyzing the concept of freedom and absolute liberties, as reviewing our preconceived notions of the relationship between criminality and human rights enable us to think of more suitable methods of

Read More
1191 Words | 5 Pages

For instance, tackling issues such as health care and education, which provide severe inequality and adversity, would create an equal and safer society that would thus reject any need for criminal behavior, Davis herself suggests, “Rather, positing decarceration as our overarching strategy, we would try to envision a continuum of alternatives to imprisonment-demilitarization of schools, revitalization of education at all levels, a health system that provides free physical and mental care to all…” (Davis 107). It is clear that prisons and

Read More
2164 Words | 9 Pages

“Prisons: A social crime and failure.” Anarchism and other Essays: Prions. Mother Earth Association, 1911. Web. 15 Sep. 2016 Goldman explains her position on the prison system and how it has come to such poor conditions.

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the

Read More
975 Words | 4 Pages

The idea of a prison system has been present in nearly all societies since the dawn of time. Prisoners throughout history have usually been made up of people from marginalized groups such as enemy countries, the lower class, or racial minorities. The form of punishment that prisoners have experienced throughout has history has often been delegated to be one that is labor-focused. The treatment that prisoners have experienced following their release from the prison system is one that is filled with a lack of privilege. Now and throughout all of history, prisoners have often been subject to much discrimination and prejudice both in person and how they’ve been portrayed in media.

Read More
440 Words | 2 Pages

Of course, some of the issues have raised more attention and controversy than others, for example, capital punishment is now hotly debated and challenged while the issue of privatization of the correction industry is coming under scrutiny despite the dependency on the government on the private sector. The private sector has come under use by prisons for the provision of services such as medical and healthcare, vocational and educational programming, facility maintenance and food preparation (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). While such services do not often raise controversy the idea of the government's, handing over control of the punishment system to the private industry is one of the most controversial issues facing the nation. In addition, some of the private prisons have been critiqued for failing to address the rehabilitation aspect of the corrections system.

Read More
583 Words | 3 Pages

This article describes mass incarceration as a trend. How the development of prisons are on the raise due to the trend. Increasing criminalization in communities and imposing cruel punishments for minor offenses. This article explores how cultural productions of poverty and exclusion intersect with prison development. How those in poverty are more likely to be targeted due to their race, ethnicity, and class.

Read More
679 Words | 3 Pages

Thesis: It is very important for the sake of Americans tax dollars that we change the way that prisons are run and increase the productivity of inmates so when they are released from jail they are ready to be a productive member in society and have the confidence to achieve new goals. Introduction: Day after day, millions of inmates sit in jail doing nothing productive with their lives. We are paying to house inmates that may not even have a good reason to be there. For example, drug offenders are being kept with murderers and other violent offenders.

Read More
1174 Words | 5 Pages

She describes how the criminal justice system befell the way it is today and gives an explanation and a pathway to fix mass incarceration in the criminal justice system. She goes into details referring to law policies and sentencing and how they have been extended. Therefore, guiding the reader to understand that in order to amend this problem we need to start with small alterations that will grow overtime to amend the bigger problem, going from the bottom up. She concludes in justifying the system as a political issue and not a crime and punishment

Read More

More about Are Prison Angela Davis Summary

Related Topics

Open Document