11). Davis squarely blames the proliferation of prisons and prison inmates on racism. Prisons, according to Davis, have taken the place of slavery and legal segregation. The author embellishes her position through her characteristically deft use of language, such as by referring to the "abolition" of prison culture in America.
Davis claims the prison-industrial complex is a tool for social control in a society too lazy to address the root causes of racism, sexism, and poverty. The Marxian discourse in Davis' work presents prison culture in light of conflict theory. Conflict theorists will find Davis' arguments familiar. Disproportionate numbers of minorities in general prison populations and in maximum security prison populations substantiate Davis' claims about the relationship between race, poverty and ethnicity. An intrepid feminist scholar, Davis links incarceration to actual and symbolic misogyny. Repressive tools and practices including outright abuse render prisons obsolete.
Furthermore, the prison-industrial complex becomes self-perpetuating through the media. The media and mainstream educational curricula validate the prison as a social institution by depicting hardened serial killers justly rotting behind bars. Flashy images of prisons on television and film also present incarceration as a natural, automatic solution to criminology. Thus the natural question looming throughout Are Prisons Obsolete? remains: What to do to ensure public safety in the absence of prisons? Davis concludes her book by explaining how humane social institutions and social norms can replace the prison-industrial complex. Education, effective mental health and addiction services, and the decriminalization of drugs, illegal immigration, and the sex trade are but a few of the more reasonable means to create genuine social justice.
Works Cited
Davis, Angela. Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories, 2003.
