A crucial indictment of widely embraced “alternatives to
incarceration” that exposes how many of these new approaches
actually widen the net of punishment and surveillance
“But what does
it mean—really—to celebrate reforms that convert your home into
your prison?”
—Michelle
Alexander, from the foreword
Electronic
monitoring. Locked-down drug treatment centers. House arrest.
Mandated psychiatric treatment. Data-driven surveillance. Extended
probation. These are some of the key alternatives held up as
cost-effective substitutes for jails and prisons. But many of these
so-called reforms actually widen the net, weaving in new strands of
punishment and control, and bringing new populations, who would not
otherwise have been subject to imprisonment, under physical control
by the state.
As mainstream public
opinion has begun to turn against mass incarceration, political
figures on both sides of the spectrum are pushing for reform.
But—though they’re promoted as steps to confront high rates of
imprisonment—many of these measures are transforming our homes and
communities into prisons instead.
In Prison by Any
Other Name, activist journalists Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law
reveal the way the kinder, gentler narrative of reform can obscure
agendas of social control and challenge us to question the ways we
replicate the status quo when pursuing change. A foreword by Michelle
Alexander situates the book in the context of criminal justice reform
conversations. Finally, the book offers a bolder vision for truly
alternative justice practices.