In
Abolitionist Intimacies, El Jones examines the movement to
abolish prisons through the Black feminist principles of care and
collectivity. Understanding the history of prisons in Canada in their
relationship to settler colonialism and anti-Black racism, Jones
observes how practices of intimacy become imbued with state violence
at carceral sites including prisons, policing and borders, as well as
through purported care institutions such as hospitals and social
work. The state also polices intimacy through mechanisms such as
prison visits, strip searches and managing community contact with
incarcerated people. Despite this, Jones argues, intimacy is integral
to the ongoing struggles of prisoners for justice and liberation
through the care work of building relationships and organizing with
the people inside. Through characteristically fierce and personal
prose and poetry, and motivated by a decade of prison justice work,
Jones observes that abolition is not only a political movement to end
prisons; it is also an intimate one deeply motivated by commitment
and love.