Prison persists as a detestable solution no alternative replaces

Evidence

And, although, in a little over a century, this self-evident character has become transformed, it has not disappeared. We are aware of all the inconveniences of prison, and that it is dangerous when it is not useless. And yet one cannot ‘see’ how to replace it. It is the detestable solution, which one seems unable to do without. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 355

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why does the detestable-solution status quo persist in modern society? The self-evidence argument might extend to surveillance even without institutional mandate.
• XREF: Parallels Milgrom’s institutional persistence arguments and general ‘institutional lock-in’ literature. — connects to: The panopticon prison is sustained by a nonentity that must never exist. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 5; Prisons preserve practices that society has largely abandoned as obsolete; Prison reform is an integral part of the prison’s functioning, not its antidote — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 359 (+7 more)

Related

• Reform has always been proposed as the remedy for the prison’s failure (similarity 0.84)
• Prison reform is an integral part of the prison’s functioning, not its antidote (similarity 0.84)
• Prison resists reform because it relays a broad network of disciplines and surveillances. (similarity 0.84)
• The penitentiary was framed as a progressive reform of its era. (similarity 0.82)
• Reform rhetoric bolsters prison permanence and cannot meet corporate-era challenges (similarity 0.81)
• Rehabilitation has been displaced by incapacitation as prison’s goal (similarity 0.80)
• Prison reform rhetoric reinforces the prison’s permanence. (similarity 0.80)
• The prison’s failure, reform, and discipline form one simultaneous carceral system (similarity 0.80)
• Prisons stockpile obsolete ideas like racism and misogyny that society has rejected (similarity 0.80)
• The prison debate wrongly focuses on correction while normalization mechanisms proliferate unchecked. (similarity 0.79)
• Prisons demonstrably fail to reduce the crime rate (similarity 0.79)
• Imprisonment’s rapid acceptance is poorly explained by the prestige of reform models alone (similarity 0.79)
• The prison system is racism’s most reliable institutional refuge. (similarity 0.79)
• The prison’s failures were denounced at its very inception (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Prison reform is an integral part of the prison’s functioning, not its antidote #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 359
• Reform rhetoric bolsters prison permanence and cannot meet corporate-era challenges #expands (0.80) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 266
• Prison is treated as an inevitable fact of life even in communities it oppresses #corroborates (0.80) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 29
• Prisons preserve practices that society has largely abandoned as obsolete #corroborates (0.75)
• Abolition requires a continuum of alternatives, not prisonlike substitutes #responds-to (0.75) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 284
• Prisons stockpile obsolete ideas like racism and misogyny that society has rejected #corroborates (0.75) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 221
• Corporate profit motives entrench a prison system that would otherwise be obsolete. #qualifies (0.75) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 235
• Reform has always been proposed as the remedy for the prison’s failure #corroborates (0.70) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 408
• Declaring prisons obsolete follows from proving they are racist institutions #responds-to (0.70) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 61