I asked organizers working to dismantle incarceration what is giving them hope for 2023. Here’s what they shared.
“Amidst impossible conditions, people sentenced to [life without parole], their families, and other advocates have been organizing to demand freedom for people sentenced to death by incarceration in California,” Lenz told me. “In the last few years, well over 100 people have been released from life-without-parole sentences in California, many of whom are now leading the movement from the inside out.
Along these lines, the Chicago-based collective Mothers of the Kidnapped is made up of people caring for incarcerated loved ones, particularly BIPOC survivors of Chicago police frame-ups and torture. The collective works to free their loved ones and other people in Illinois — and also to uplift the worldwide struggle against policing, imprisonment and colonialism, including the Palestinian liberation movement.
Seattle is far from alone in continuing its defund-the-police organizing. In September, Interrupting Criminalizationdepicting campaigns to divest from police and carceral institutions and invest in resources that help communities thrive, around the country. I recommend watching it if you’ve felt your sense of hope fading. From Oakland to Austin; from St.
“We have been building for seven years with a core of formerly incarcerated people and have provided over 500 people with support after returning from prison,” Kilgore told me.