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'''Behind the words "failure" and "counterproductive" lies this plain fact, which ought to be confronted and accepted: If our entire criminal justice apparatus were simply closed down, there would be no increase, and there would probably be a decrease in the amount of behavior that is now labeled | '''Behind the words "failure" and "counterproductive" lies this plain fact, which ought to be confronted and accepted: If our entire criminal justice apparatus were simply closed down, there would be no increase, and there would probably be a decrease in the amount of behavior that is now labeled criminal.'' | ||
: —Gilbert M. Cantor, An End to Crime and Punishment, The Shingle (1976) 99-114 (105). | |||
It's time to stop talking about reforming prisons and to start working for their complete abolition. That means basically three things: | It's time to stop talking about reforming prisons and to start working for their complete abolition. That means basically three things: | ||
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Judge Carter, of Ohio, avowed himself a radical on prison discipline. He favored the abolishment of prisons, and the use of greater efforts for the prevention of crime. Any system of imprisonment or punishment was degradation, and could not reform a man. He would abolish all prison walls, and release all confined within them... | Judge Carter, of Ohio, avowed himself a radical on prison discipline. He favored the abolishment of prisons, and the use of greater efforts for the prevention of crime. Any system of imprisonment or punishment was degradation, and could not reform a man. He would abolish all prison walls, and release all confined within them... | ||
:—Minutes of the 1870 Congress of the American Prison Association/American Correctional Association | :—Minutes of the 1870 Congress of the American Prison Association/American Correctional Association | ||
Richter Carter aus Ohio gab sich als radikaler Gefängnisgegner zu erkennen. Er befürwortete die Abschaffung der Gefängnisse und größere Anstrengungen zur Verbrechensvorbeugung. Jedes System der Inhaftierung oder Bestrafung sei eine Erniedrigung und könne einen Menschen nicht bessern. Er würde alle Gefängnismauern abschaffen und alle, die hinter ihnen eingeschlossen seien, freilassen ... | |||
:—Protokoll des Kongresses der Amerikanischen Gefängnisgesellschaft von 1870 (American Prison Association/American Correctional Association) | |||
Es sollte keine Gefängnisse geben; und wenn es nicht die Tatsache gäbe, dass die Menschen von außen so ergreifend und herzlos in ihrem Umgang mit den Menschen im Inneren sind, gäbe es keine solchen Einrichtungen wie Gefängnisse ... Die einzige Möglichkeit in der Welt, das Verbrechen abzuschaffen und Kriminelle sollen die Großen und die Kleinen zusammen abschaffen. Mache faire Lebensbedingungen. Geben Sie Männern eine Chance zu leben .... Niemand würde stehlen, wenn er etwas einfacher seinen eigenen Weg finden könnte. Niemand wird einen Einbruch begehen, wenn er ein Haus voll hat. Der einzige Weg, diese Bedingungen zu heilen, ist die Gleichheit. Es sollte keine Gefängnisse geben. Sie erreichen nicht, was sie vorgeben zu tun. Wenn du sie auslöschen würdest, gäbe es keine Verbrecher mehr als jetzt. Sie terrorisieren niemanden. Sie sind ein Schandfleck für jede Zivilisation, und ein Gefängnis ist ein Beweis für die fehlende Nächstenliebe der Menschen, die die Gefängnisse machen und sie mit den Opfern ihrer Gier erfüllen. | |||
Clarence Darrow, eine Adresse an die Gefangenen im Cook County Gefängnis, Chicago, Illinois 1902 | |||
'''There ought to be no jails; and if it were not for the fact that the people on the outside are so grasping and heartless in their dealings with the people on the inside, there would be no such institutions as jails''' .... The only way in the world to abolish crime and criminals is to abolish the big ones and the little ones together. Make fair conditions of life. Give men a chance to live .... Nobody would steal if he could get something of his own some easier way. Nobody will commit burglary when he has a house full. The only way to cure these conditions is by equality. There should be no jails. They do not accomplish what they pretend to accomplish. If you would wipe them out there would be no more criminals than now. They terrorize nobody. They are a blot upon any civilization, and a jail is an evidence of the lack of charity of the people on the outside who make the jails and fill them with the victims of their greed. | '''There ought to be no jails; and if it were not for the fact that the people on the outside are so grasping and heartless in their dealings with the people on the inside, there would be no such institutions as jails''' .... The only way in the world to abolish crime and criminals is to abolish the big ones and the little ones together. Make fair conditions of life. Give men a chance to live .... Nobody would steal if he could get something of his own some easier way. Nobody will commit burglary when he has a house full. The only way to cure these conditions is by equality. There should be no jails. They do not accomplish what they pretend to accomplish. If you would wipe them out there would be no more criminals than now. They terrorize nobody. They are a blot upon any civilization, and a jail is an evidence of the lack of charity of the people on the outside who make the jails and fill them with the victims of their greed. | ||
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The prison, as now tolerated, is a constant threat to everyone's security. An anachronistic relic of medieval concepts of crime and punishment, it not only does not cure the crime problem; it perpetuates and multiplies it. We profess to rely upon the prison for our safety; yet it is directly responsible for much of the damage that society suffers at the hands of offenders. On the basis of my own experience, I am convinced that prisons must be abolished. | The prison, as now tolerated, is a constant threat to everyone's security. An anachronistic relic of medieval concepts of crime and punishment, it not only does not cure the crime problem; it perpetuates and multiplies it. We profess to rely upon the prison for our safety; yet it is directly responsible for much of the damage that society suffers at the hands of offenders. On the basis of my own experience, I am convinced that prisons must be abolished. | ||
:—Ralph Banay, formerly in charge of the psychiatric clinic at Sing Sing Prison, "Should Prisons be Abolished?" New York Times Magazine, January 30, 1955 | :—Ralph Banay, formerly in charge of the psychiatric clinic at Sing Sing Prison, "Should Prisons be Abolished?" New York Times Magazine, January 30, 1955 | ||
Das Gefängnis, wie jetzt geduldet, ist eine ständige Bedrohung für die Sicherheit aller. Ein anachronistisches Relikt mittelalterlicher Konzepte von Verbrechen und Bestrafung, das das Verbrechensproblem nicht nur nicht heilt; es verewigt und vervielfältigt es. Wir bekennen uns zu unserer Sicherheit auf das Gefängnis; Dennoch ist es direkt für einen Großteil des Schadens verantwortlich, den die Gesellschaft durch die Täter erleidet. Aufgrund meiner eigenen Erfahrung bin ich überzeugt, dass Gefängnisse abgeschafft werden müssen. | |||
:-Ralph Banay, früher verantwortlich für die psychiatrische Klinik im Sing Sing Gefängnis, "Sollten Gefängnisse abgeschafft werden?" New York Times Magazine, 30. Januar 1955 | |||
The elimination of imprisonment may at first seem like a radical step, but alternatives to imprisonment are already widespread-fines and probation are often used, and traffic law violators are sometimes sentenced to attend classes in driver education. The advocacy of prison abolition implies simply that other courses of action, including, sometimes, doing nothing at all, are preferable to imprisonment. | The elimination of imprisonment may at first seem like a radical step, but alternatives to imprisonment are already widespread-fines and probation are often used, and traffic law violators are sometimes sentenced to attend classes in driver education. The advocacy of prison abolition implies simply that other courses of action, including, sometimes, doing nothing at all, are preferable to imprisonment. | ||
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I've seen too much injustice to remain mute or still. The struggle against injustice cannot be muffled by prison walls. | I've seen too much injustice to remain mute or still. The struggle against injustice cannot be muffled by prison walls. | ||
—A letter from prison by John Cluchette, printed in Angela Davis, If They Come in the Morning (New York, Signet, 1971) | —A letter from prison by John Cluchette, printed in Angela Davis, If They Come in the Morning (New York, Signet, 1971) | ||
Als sie nach einer einzigen Nacht aus dem Staatsgefängnis von Nevada herauskamen, zeigten sich 23 Richter aus allen Teilen der USA "entsetzt über die Homosexualität", erschüttert von der "seelenzerrüttenden Bitterkeit" der Insassen und verärgert über die "tobenden, schreienden und an die Wände hämmernden Männer." Richter E. Newton Vickers aus Kansas resümierte: "Ich fühlte mich wie ein Tier in einem Käfig. Zehn Jahre dort müssen 100 oder 200 sein." Vickers formulierte an den Staat Nevada die eindringliche Bitte, "zwei Bulldozer dorthin zu schicken, um das verdammte Ding niederzureißen." | |||
- "Die Schande der Gefängnisse", Time Magazine, 18. Januar 1971 | |||
'''After a single night''' at the Nevada State Prison, for example, 23 judges from all over the U.S. emerged "appalled at the homosexuality," shaken by the inmates' "soul-shattering bitterness" and upset by "men raving, screaming and pounding on the walls." Kansas Judge E. Newton Vickers summed up, "I felt like an animal in a cage. Ten years in there must be like 100 or maybe 200." Vickers urged Nevada to "send two bulldozers out there and tear the damn thing to the ground." | '''After a single night''' at the Nevada State Prison, for example, 23 judges from all over the U.S. emerged "appalled at the homosexuality," shaken by the inmates' "soul-shattering bitterness" and upset by "men raving, screaming and pounding on the walls." Kansas Judge E. Newton Vickers summed up, "I felt like an animal in a cage. Ten years in there must be like 100 or maybe 200." Vickers urged Nevada to "send two bulldozers out there and tear the damn thing to the ground." | ||
—"The Shame of Prisons," Time, January 18, 1971 | —"The Shame of Prisons," Time, January 18, 1971 | ||
Es ist Zeit, das Gefängnissystem zu zerstören - Schloss, Lager und Bar. Es ist nicht mehr zu renovieren. Der einzige Weg, es zu retten, ist es zu zerstören - oder das meiste davon. | |||
Keine objektive Untersuchung des besten Gefängnissystems kann die Schlussfolgerung ausschließen, dass es primitiv, zwingend und entmenschlichend ist. Keine rationale, geschweige wissenschaftliche, Bewertung von Behandlungs- oder Rehabilitationsprogrammen innerhalb des Gefängnisses kann sie als alles andere als eine totale Schande bewerten. Die besten Bemühungen der Strafvollzugsbeamten sind zu Frustration und Versagen verurteilt, unabhängig davon, ob sie durch Rückfallraten oder andere vernünftige Standards des "Fortschritts" gemessen werden. | |||
-Emanuel Margolis, leitender Redakteur, Connecticut Bar Journal, Vol. 46,3 (1972) | |||
Ich bin überzeugt, dass die Einrichtung des Gefängnisses wahrscheinlich enden muss. In vielerlei Hinsicht ist es in den Vereinigten Staaten ebenso unerträglich wie die Institution der Sklaverei, die für alle gleichermaßen brutal ist, ebenso giftig für das soziale System, ebenso subversiv wie die Bruderschaft des Menschen, die für manche Maßstäbe noch teurer und wahrscheinlich weniger rationell ist . | |||
Bundesrichter James Doyle, Western District von Wisconsin, Morales v. Schmidt 340 Federal Supplement (W.D. Wis. 1972) S. 544,548-49 | |||
It is time to begin to dismantle the prison system--lock, stock and bar. It is beyond renovation. The only way to save it is to destroy it--or, most of it. | It is time to begin to dismantle the prison system--lock, stock and bar. It is beyond renovation. The only way to save it is to destroy it--or, most of it. | ||