From Truthout:
Over the past year, organizers across the country have been working nonstop to free people from jails and prisons — and yet, of course, millions remain behind bars. Faced with this reality, it can be easy to slip into discouragement at the outset of a new year. But long-time abolitionist organizer and author Mariame Kaba reminds us that “hope is a discipline” — one we must practice even when the horizon is cloudy, when the new year brings no clarity, no easy optimism.
In this spirit, I asked a number of organizers working to dismantle incarceration what is giving them hope for the coming year. I’m mentioning just a few decarceration projects out of countless important campaigns. And although I’m spotlighting decarceration projects (those specifically focused on shrinking incarceration and confinement), I want to note that abolitionist organizers are also working to build mutual aid networks, create non-carceral ways to address harm, and advocate for housing, non-carceral health care, education, environmental justice, and more. But I hope these glimpses of 2023’s freedom campaigns offer a sense of how we can look to the new year with excitement — and relentless determination to free them all.
Fighting to Close Prisons and Jails
Some of the most tangibly hopeful decarceration projects on the horizon are campaigns to shut down prisons and jails. Californians United for a Responsible Budget, a coalition of more than 80 grassroots groups working to reduce incarceration in California, is pushing to close 10 prisons in the state by 2025. The coalition is on its way: The state closed a prison, the Deuel Vocational Institution, in 2021, thanks to organizers’ sustained struggle, and another is set to close in 2023. Now, the coalition is calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to commit to steps toward decarceration in the state’s January budget, including identifying three more prisons for closure. Organizers are mobilizing Californians to send letters to the governor and to rally in Sacramento in mid-January. Continue reading >>>
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