This week on Kite Line, we continue our conversation with prison abolitionist journalists Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law. We share the second half of our discussion on their recent book, Prison by Any Other Name: Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms. The book is an in-depth look at the various “alternatives to prison” that are held up as substitutes for incarceration, but which, in many cases, bring surveillance into our homes and communities.

The alternatives mentioned in our discussion last week – electronic monitoring, probation, court mandated psychiatric confinement or Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOTS), and the sex offender registry – are just a few of the methods they analyze. For instance, “community policing” often means over-policing neighborhoods that are predominately inhabited by people of color, leading to rising arrests and police harassment. This week, they talk about issues with child protective services, community policing, school resource officers, and tell us of possible abolitionist horizons.

In this episode we mention Isaiah Willoughby, who was arrested and federally charged with one count of arson in connection to a fire at the Seattle Police Department East Precinct.

You can write letters to him at:

Isaiah Willoughby #49960-086

You can hear the first part of the conversation with Law and Schenwar here.