From Chains to Change: Why Prison Abolition Isn’t Radical—It’s Necessary

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Let’s get something straight from the jump: the prison system in America isn’t broken. It’s functioning exactly how it was designed to function—from the ground up—as a machine to control, exploit, and erase Black and brown bodies. What’s broken is our willingness to admit it. What’s radical isn’t abolition—it’s accepting this system as “justice.”


I’m a Black man who’s seen firsthand how the system swallows people whole. Not because they’re dangerous. Not because they’re beyond redemption. But because there’s money to be made in their misery, votes to be won off their demonization, and power to be preserved through their silence.


The Origins: Slavery Never Ended—It Just Evolved


Take a look at the 13th Amendment. Everybody loves to quote the part about abolishing slavery—until they read the fine print:

“…except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”


That clause ain’t accidental. It’s a loophole big enough to march millions through. After emancipation, Black folks were criminalized en masse for petty “crimes” like vagrancy or loitering—basically for existing while Black. Chain gangs replaced slave plantations, and the system just kept on moving.

That wasn’t reform. That was rebranding.


A System Built on Profit, Not Justice


Today, private prisons turn incarceration into business. Prison labor—legalized slavery—makes billions. Corporations from Victoria’s Secret to Whole Foods have used inmates to cut costs. Commissary prices are sky-high. Phone calls are taxed like luxury goods. You think that’s by mistake?


And the real kicker? Most people locked up aren’t even violent offenders. They’re people with untreated addiction, unaddressed trauma, or who just couldn’t afford a decent lawyer. The prison system doesn’t solve problems—it warehouses them.


What They Call ‘Justice’ Is Really Just Control


This system isn’t about safety. If it were, we’d invest in schools, not jails. We’d treat addiction like a health issue, not a criminal one. We’d be funding housing, not throwing people on the streets then locking them up for being homeless.


No, this system is about control—racial, economic, and political. It’s about keeping power in the hands of the few and using fear, stereotypes, and the illusion of law and order to justify the oppression of the many.


Abolition Is Not About Chaos—It’s About Imagination


When people hear “abolition,” they clutch their pearls like we’re calling for lawlessness. But abolition isn’t about tearing things down just to leave chaos in its place. It’s about building something better.


It’s about communities investing in one another. About systems of accountability rooted in healing, not punishment. About giving people what they need before they end up in a cage—mental health care, education, opportunity.


We’ve tried reform. We’ve tried “kinder” cages and “better” policing. It’s not enough. Because the foundation is rotten. And you don’t fix rot with paint—you tear it out and rebuild.


We Deserve More Than Survival—We Deserve Liberation




Prison abolition isn’t some wild dream. It’s the bold belief that people can grow, heal, and change. That accountability is possible without torture. That Black and brown people are worth more than their worst mistake.


It’s not about ignoring harm. It’s about refusing to believe that cages are the only answer. It’s about understanding that what they’ve sold us as “justice” has always been oppression in disguise.


From chains to change—that’s the revolution. And it’s long overdue.

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