Join Rachel Herzing, Justin Piché, and special guests for a discussion of lessons from the movement against imprisonment.

Critics of abolition sometimes castigate the movement for its utopianism, but in How to Abolish Prisons, long-time organizers Rachel Herzing and Justin Piché reveal a movement that has made the struggle for abolition as real as the institutions they are fighting against.

Abolitionist campaigns are constructing on-the-ground initiatives across North America to deconstruct carceral society and build resistant communities.Through the words, deeds, and personalities of this beautifully peopled movement, How to Abolish Prisons emerges as a stunning snapshot of a movement’s thinking in motion.

Get a copy of How to Abolish Prisons: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2212-how-to-abolish-prisons

***Register through Ticket Tailor to receive a link to the live-streamed video on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded and captioning and ASL will be provided.***

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Speakers:

Rachel Herzing is an organizer, activist, and advocate fighting the violence of surveillance, policing and imprisonment. Herzing was executive director of Center for Political Education, a resource for political organizations on the left and progressive social movements; codirector of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to abolishing the prison industrial complex; and director of research and training at Creative Interventions a community resource that developed interventions to interpersonal harm that do not rely on policing, imprisonment, or traditional social services. She lives in New York City.

Justin Piché is associate professor in the department of criminology, director of the Carceral Studies Research Collective at the University of Ottawa, and coeditor of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons. He is also a founding member of the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project, the Abolition Coalition, and the Carceral Cultures Research Initiative. He lives in Ottawa, which is located on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe Territory.

Mohamed Shehk is the national campaigns director of Critical Resistance (CR), a national grassroots organization rooted in Oakland, CA working to abolish the prison industrial complex. He has also been engaged in amplifying international solidarity with people's struggles outside of the U.S., and supporting the Palestinian movement for liberation.

Naomi Murakawa is an associate professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and editor of the Abolitionist Papers book series at Haymarket Books.

Donnie Armstrong - I became an abolitionist during my time in prison serving a life sentence. I learned about the struggle for justice
and abolition from a Quaker lady who came into the prison, the reconciliation group at Kingston Pen. I was inside for over 40 years and during that time learned and saw how the system is and the waste it is. I was involved in prison politics during my time inmate committee chairman in max and medium institutions. I have been out of prison for over 4 year and doing very well. I am on the prison justice day committee in Montreal since I was released. Since my release I have gone back into the prison to share my experiences of serving a life sentence in the community. I have been an active member of the termite collective for 15 years.

meenakshi mannoe (she/her/hers) is an abolitionist organizer based on the unceded and colonially occupied territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm  (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, colonially known as vancouver, bc, canada. she is a member of the vancouver prison justice day committee and supports other local struggles against carceral colonialism.

Maggie Smith is a community organizer based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. They are a member of the organizing collective of the Prisoner Correspondence Project.

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