Prison industrial complex

The prison industrial complex describes the ways the government and the private sector benefit by using surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as “solutions” to economic, social and political problems; the intertwining of structures that enable profit to be generated from incarceration and, by proxy, continued oppression. - Critical Resistance & the work of Angela Davis, adapted by Michelle Xie

Examples of the Prison Industrial Complex

Adrienne Maree Brown	"I tend to think of abolition as one result of transformative justice: abolition is the end of prisons; transformative justice is the methods people use to uproot injustice patterns in communities. I tend to think of abolition as a totality, and I think that can be tricky. People set out to abolish slavery and we ended up with the prison industrial complex because while there were surface and policy level shifts, the culture did not shift. That deep underlying racism and classism remains and is now roaring to the surface as we write this. So, while I identify as an abolitionist, I find speaking about the iterative tangible work of transformative justice makes more sense to me now–I don’t simply want the prisons gone, I want a radically different way of interacting with each other to grow."
Mia Mingus	"I understand abolition to be a necessary part of transformative justice because prisons, and the PIC, are major sites of individual and collective violence, abuse, and trauma. However, transformative justice is and must also be a critical part of abolition work because we will need to build alternatives to how we respond to harm, violence, and abuse. Just because we shut down prisons, does not mean that these will stop. Transformative justice has roots in abolition work and is an abolitionist framework, but goes beyond abolishing prisons (and slavery) and asks us to end–and transform the conditions that perpetuate–generational cycles of violence such as rape, sexual assault, child abuse, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, intimate partner abuse, war, genocide, poverty, human trafficking, police brutality, murder, stalking, sexual harassment, all systems of oppression, dangerous societal norms, and trauma."
Amanda Aguilar Shank	Interpersonal harm is inevitable. Abolition imagines that "each moment where harm happens is an opportunity to transform relationships and communities, build trust and safety, and grow slowly toward the beautiful people we are meant to be, in the world we deserve."

• In 2016, Canada’s crime rates hit a 45-year low. Yet, incarceration rates hit an all time high.
• The majority of people incarcerated in Canada, 60%, are denied bail and incarcerated in advance of their trial. This means they are legally innocent.
• Indigenous Peoples are incarcerated 10x more often than non-Indigenous citizens; an example of systemic racism
• Federally sentenced inmates are paid a maximum of $6.90 per day for their labour. The average is $3.00 per day for their labour. Most is deducted for their basic living essentials such as cleaning products, food and accomodation, access to phones and also to the crown.

If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.

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