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Protesters march with a banner that reads: 'Disarm, defund, abolish' in red capital letters

28 Apr 2022 3 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

10 steps towards prison abolition

A world without incarceration and police may seem a long way off, but there are plenty of things we can change on the way....

Jessie jokes with his dad. Jessie wrote to Briarpatch: ‘Growing up, my dad was in prison. When I got a life sentence, he changed his life and stayed out and has been my support. This picture is me mimicking my nieces, who pull on his beard – it’s something I never got to do as a kid...’ JESSIE MILO

25 Apr 2022 5 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Healed people heal people

Writing from a Californian prison, Jessie Milo sets out his vision for a more caring society.

Through Abraço Campeão, Alan Duarte works with young people to see a future amid the pressure of constant violence and police raids. JOSIANE SANTANA

25 Apr 2022 7 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

So, what’s the alternative?

Community-based initiatives are helping keep people safe where the police fail. Lucilla Harrell and...

13 Apr 2022 6 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Resisting the cop in our heads

Abolition can be an everyday practice. Sarah Lamble explores how.

Riot police hit protesters participating in a demonstration against lawmakers’ salary demands outside the parliament buildings in Nairobi in May 2013. THOMAS MUKOYA/REUTERS/ ALAMY

12 Apr 2022 6 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Colonize and punish

Mass imprisonment and merciless policing were the preferred tools of control for European colonizers. Patrick...

Making friends at the Bomana Prison, in Port Moresby City, Papua New Guinea in December 2017.

5 Apr 2022 13 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Beyond punishment

Amy Hall explores the movement calling time on prisons and the police while offering an alternative vision...

A trans sex worker takes to the streets of Tegucigalpa Credit: Frauke Decoodt

25 Aug 2020 7 minute read

This article is almost three years old.

On the pink corridor

How trans women in Honduras are helping their imprisoned sisters. Frauke Decoodt reports from Tegucigalpa...

Nigeria's security forces have long been accused of brutality, harassment, extorting citizens and locking them up if they are unable to pay.

1 Jun 2020 4 minute read

This article is more than three years old.

The fight to free Nigeria’s prisoners

Two-thirds of the country’s inmates haven’t even been on trial yet. Nosmot Gbadamosi speaks to an all-woman...

Prisons disproportionately incarcerate survivors of state violence and neglect; 24 per cent of adults in prison grew up in the care system and 29 per cent are survivors of childhood abuse. Credit: Tom Blackout/Unsplash

4 Mar 2020 6 minute read

This article is more than three years old.

Should prisons be abolished?

Prisons damage people and have always been used by the powerful to control the most marginalized. But can society really do...

24 per cent of adults in prison grew up in the care system and 29 per cent are survivors of childhood abuse.

22 Nov 2019 4 minute read

This article is more than three years old.

Labour’s pledges on prisons don’t go far enough

The UK has the highest amount of prisoners in Western...

6 Sep 2018 4 minute read

This article is almost five years old.

Starving for the rights of Bahrain's prisoners

Bahraini activist Ali Mushaima is on his 37th day of a hunger strike, outside the Bahraini embassy in London. Andrew...

31 May 2018 5 minute read

This article is more than five years old.

Colombia’s political prisoners’ futures hang on electoral outcome

Guerrillas talk about the peace process. Alicia Prager reports.

14 Dec 2017 3 minute read

This article is more than five years old.

A look at Bahrain today

Despite the atrocious human rights situation in the country, the West finds much to celebrate about Bahrain. Zoe...

11 Oct 2017 4 minute read

This article is almost six years old.

Inside the jails of Duterte’s drug war

A glimpse of the lives of those sleeping in shifts in Manila's overcrowded jails.

11 Aug 2016 4 minute read

This article is almost seven years old.

Young women caught in deadly crossfire of El Salvador’s gang warfare

There is a whole generation behind bars, writes Amy Smith.

19 Jan 2016 3 minute read

This article is more than seven years old.

Brandon Astor Jones – time is running out

An execution date of 2 February has been set. Please write to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to appeal for clemency....

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