Prison by Any Other Name by Maya Schenwar

With a foreword by Michelle Alexander, Prison by Any Other Name exposes how a kinder narrative of reform is effectively obscuring an agenda of social control, challenging us to question the ways we replicate the status quo when pursuing change, and offering a bolder vision for truly alternative justice practices. Whether readers are seasoned abolitionists or are newly interested in sensible alternatives to retrograde policing and criminal justice policies and approaches, this highly praised book offers “a wealth of critical insights” that will help readers “tread carefully through the dizzying terrain of a world turned upside down” and “make sense of what should take the place of mass incarceration” ( The Brooklyn Rail). But in a searing, “cogent critique” ( Library Journal), Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law reveal that many of these so-called reforms actually weave in new strands of punishment and control, bringing new populations who would not otherwise have been subject to imprisonment under physical control by the state. These are some of the key alternatives held up as cost effective substitutes for jails and prisons. She’s a cofounder of the Chicago Community Bond Fund and organizes with the Love & Protect collective in Chicago.Electronic monitoring. She has appeared on Democracy Now, MSNBC, C-SPAN, NPR, and many other television and radio programs.

She gave a Tedx talk on prison abolition, and has been a keynote speaker in a wide range of settings. Maya has written op-eds and news articles for Truthout, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, The New Jersey Star-Ledger, and numerous other publications.

Maya is also the co-editor (with Joe Macaré and Alana Yu-Lan Price) of Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States.

She is the co-author (with Victoria Law) of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms, and the author of Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better.

She is Editor-in-Chief of Truthout, an independent social justice news website. Maya Schenwar is a writer, editor, journalist and organizer working to sculpt new ways for journalism to serve the public good and fuel social transformation.

Prison by Any Other Name by Maya Schenwar