Is prison necessary? That’s a central question in the work of longtime prison abolitionist and well-known prison scholar, Ruth Wilson Gilmore. A co-founder of activist organization Critical Resistance, Gilmore’s seminal book “Golden Gulag” analyzed California’s role in propelling both the prison building boom and tough-on-crime sentencing in the U.S. Today, criminal justice reform is under a brighter spotlight, as calls to defund the police have increased and as jails and prisons became hotspots for COVID-19 with effects rippling through surrounding communities. Gilmore joins us to share her thoughts on the movement to defund police and the case for abolishing prisons.
