The following is a sketch I authored titled Prison Demolitionism. When we talk or think about prison abolition, we often envision these cells being emptied of their human cargo. But I wonder: what will become of the physical structures of the tens of thousands of prisons once they have been abolished? I believe that if the physical structures of prisons remain, are left in place, then they will simply be repurposed by the state for other forms of human suffering. A good example of this is Angola State Prison in Louisiana. This prison was built on the remnants of an old slave plantation sometime after the abolition of plantation slavery because the plantation was abandoned but the structure of it was left in place. It was repurposed by the state for a new and more insidious form of slavery. So, this sketch presents to you my vision of what I believe to be the next stage, the advanced stage, of prison abolition, which I call prison demolitionism, which is the actual tearing down of the physical structure of prisons once they have been emptied.

A Sketch.

One day, the last prison in the u.s. will have been demolished.

And because the police had already been abolished and because there were no other pig institutions to racially profile, harass, and arrest the people, prisons will have lost their usefulness.
As a result, prison populations will have declined significantly and prisons in the north will have been shuttered and demolished.
But, as is customary, the racist confederate-leaning states of the south will have resisted prison demolitionism but the captives still trapped behind enemy lines will have militantly rebelled.
Coordinated mass revolts will have been staged at every remaining gulag in the south. Fires will have been set. Guards taken hostage. Cellblocks taken over. And communiqués released to the media with only one demand: FREEDOM!
In widespread acts of inside/outside working class solidarity, socialists, anarchists, communists, abolitionists, human rights activists, and the loved ones of those still enslaved by the southern states will have all converged at the prison gates with clubs, hammers, bulldozers, and flamethrowers while chanting “Prison Lives Matter!” and “Free Them All!”
Upon hearing the revolutionary chants, the imprisoned souls will have pressed forward with more determination.
And in this collective act of love and rage and resistance, walls and gates will have been bulldozed, the armory and guard towers seized, and slave patrol vehicles commandeered.
The imprisoned souls will have dropped their shanks, peeled off their prison blues and orange jumpsuits, and joined their free world allies near the piles of rubble where once stood concrete walls and razor-wired fences.
The guards and prison officials, whose existence and livelihood depended so much on abusing, mistreating, exploiting, and brutalizing other human beings for pleasure and profit will have all been sent to reeducation camps to learn anew the human principles of healing, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, community, and love.
And the newly freed souls, together with their loved ones and free world comrades, will have been standing in the parking lot, shoulder to shoulder, crying, hugging, kissing, cheering, and holding hands.
And at the designated time they all will have heaved their Molotov cocktails before marching off, only briefly looking back to take one final glimpse and raise their clinched fists at the burning smoking remnants of an evil and vile system that fractured many families and destroyed countless lives.

Originally Posted on June 2, 2021, https://consciousprisoner.wordpress.com/2021/06/02/prison-demolitionism/

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