Prisons stockpile obsolete ideas like racism and misogyny that society has rejected

Evidence

But why is an understanding of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse in women’s prisons an important element of a radical analysis of the prison system, and especially of those forward-looking analyses that lead us in the direction of abolition? Because the call to abolish the prison as the dominant form of punishment cannot ignore the extent to which the institution of the prison has stockpiled ideas and practices that are hopefully approaching obsolescence in the larger society, but that retain all their ghastly vitality behind prison walls. The destructive combination of racism and misogyny, however much it has been challenged by social movements, scholarship, and art over the last three decades, retains all its awful consequences within women’s prisons. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 221

Categorization

• QUESTION: This ‘stockpile of obsolete practices’ framing is a strong lens — worth testing across other institutions.
• XREF: connects to: Prison racism operates clandestinely and extends beyond black-white binaries — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 62; Prisons preserve racist and misogynist practices society has nominally abandoned; Prisons preserve practices that society has largely abandoned as obsolete (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Prisons preserve racist and misogynist practices society has nominally abandoned #corroborates (0.85)
• Prisons preserve practices that society has largely abandoned as obsolete #corroborates (0.75)
• Corporate profit motives entrench a prison system that would otherwise be obsolete. #complicates (0.55) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 235