Critics of abolition sometimes castigate the movement for its utopianism, but in their new book How to Abolish Prisons, long-time organizers Rachel Herzing and Justin Piché reveal a movement that has made the struggle for abolition as real as the institutions they are fighting against. Join Chicago Humanities for a conversation with Herzing, Piché, and Chicago organizers Sharlyn Grace and Stephanie Zarate about local and transnational efforts to tear down carceral institutions and build resistant communities. Drawing on wide-ranging interviews from Herzing and Pinché’s new book, audiences will get a ground-level view of a movement’s thinking in motion and learn from some of the organizations leading the way, including Critical Resistance in the San Francisco Bay area, Survived and Punished in New York City and the Chicago Community Bond Fund.

A book signing will follow this program.

• Chicago Humanities is pleased to partner with Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, the country’s first not-for-profit bookstore.
• Pre-order Pre-order How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons from the Movement against Imprisonment through the Chicago Humanities Box Office and save 20% while supporting local, independent bookselling.
• Add books to your cart when adding tickets. Your receipt will contain a book voucher, which you show to the bookseller on-site to pick up your book(s).
• Please visit our FAQ for more information.