Red Bird Prison Abolition will be on the Athens campus for a Prison Abolition Workshop on Monday, Oct. 20, from 4:30-6:30pm in the Multicultural Center (Baker 205).
The event is sponsored by the Center for Law, Justice & Culture and the Multicultural Center. It is free and open to the public. Everyone is invited to attend and participate.
Please click here for the Facebook event page.
Redbird is a group based out of Columbus, OH that advocates for the end of the prison system. Their activities are guided by correspondence with incarcerated people because they believe prison abolition should begin with the needs of those most directly affected by the system.
The workshop focuses on four questions: (1) What is the function of the prison system in today’s society? (2) How does the prison system affect me? (3) What practices successfully deal with harm? (4) How can we support incarcerated people?
Through the workshop, Redbird addresses the following points of concern:
- In 2007, state prisons costs were $44.06 billion a year.
- Since 1970, the U.S. prison population has risen by 700%
- 4 in 10 prisoners return to prison within 3 years of release
- 1 in 99 adults in the U.S. are living behind bars.
The Prison Abolition Workshop is part of the 2014-2015 series on Critical Resistance to Mass Incarceration, held in conjunction with the Making and Breaking the Law Theme.
This theme was selected by the new student organization—Students for Law, Justice & Culture—in consultation with Making & Breaking the Law theme faculty.
The series is designed to shed critical light on the socio-economic causes and consequences of mass incarceration and harsh punishment in the U.S. criminal justice system, with special attention to the disproportionately destructive impact of this system upon individuals and communities of color.
Inspired by Michelle Alexander’s call for a “national awakening” on these issues during her visit to the Ohio University campus in April 2014, theme students and faculty will explore what it means to make meaningful commitments to addressing entrenched structures and institutions of racial injustice, bringing about substantial policy change in the criminal justice system, and ending mass incarceration and the war on drugs.
For more information, please contact CLJC Director Haley Duschinski at duschins@ohio.edu.
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