This week, we speak on the phone with writer and prison abolitionist Craig Gilmore, who begins by discussing his recent piece in Commune Magazine. The article, “The Business of Incarceration” is a review of American Prison, a critically acclaimed 2018 book by Shane Bauer. In his conversation with us, Gilmore critiques the book’s thesis on private prisons, and then tells us some of the ways in which he has seen prison abolition and organizing evolve over the decades. Reflecting on some of the most recent successes like the fight against a prison in Letcher County, Kentucky, Gilmore also suggests books to read and ways to get involved in anti-prison work in our own local areas-namely in the fight against the expansions of county jails and ICE detention centers.
