> Incidentally, did I say anything about wanting to preserve the "US
> prison-industrial complex"? No, I did not. I said I wanted to
> preserve incarceration.
You invented a distinction between smart people like you who just want to lock up the psychopaths and crazy "abolitionists" who want think psychopaths should walk around harming people.
The reason you are confused is that the latter group is just an invented strawman.
I don't think I can write it more clearly than this: the abolitionist position is that the prison-industrial complex causes more harm than good (it literally creates more violent crime than it prevents) and we wish it to be done away with. For the problems of addiction, poverty and racism, we wish to see social infrastructures in place that do not involve incarceration. For the remaining problem of violent psychopaths, we wish to see a more humane infrastructure in place which prevents these people from harming others, in a way that does not involve incessant torture, and for which the institution is not part of industries using slave labor, or broad surveillance and repression.
The alternative to the abolitionist position is that the prison-industrial complex is an appropriate way to deal with a myriad of social problems, albeit a deficient one that can be improved through reform. This alternative presumes that if only the harmful aspects were trimmed from the system, it would do great good for society.
Matt
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