Abolition Archives - YES! Magazine Solutions Journalism

Video | YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali | Dortell Williams | Criminal Justice | Felon Disenfrachisement

Voters Behind Bars

Incarcerated Americans aren’t allowed to vote. Those with felonies also face barriers. Here’s what that means for democracy.

| Aug 29, 2024

Prevention, Not Prisons

Dortell Williams, who has spent more than 30 years in prison, reflects on the true causes of crime.

| Jul 25, 2024

Dortell Williams, serving a life sentence without parole in California, shares his experience on Rising Up With Sonali.

Facing Life Without Parole Inside a California Prison

Recent reforms in prison communications have allowed Dortell Williams, serving a life sentence without parole in California, to share his experience face-to-face for the first time.

| May 3, 2024

A new book by best-selling author Ijeoma Oluo offers powerful examples of how ordinary people are changing the world.

Ijeoma Oluo Wants You to “Be a Revolution”

A new book by best-selling author Ijeoma Oluo offers powerful examples of how ordinary people are changing the world.

| Jan 31, 2024

A head photo of two women with curly hair smiling and staring directly into camera.

Practicing New Worlds with adrienne maree brown and Andrea Ritchie

In this exclusive conversation, two visionary abolitionist authors and reflect on the how the newest book in the Emergent Strategy series came to be.

adrienne maree brown, Andrea Ritchie | Dec 18, 2023

Opinion | Murmurations | Prison Abolition | Police Violence | Accountability

Murmurations: Moving from Punishment to Accountability

How can we hold accountable systems that are designed only to understand punishment?

Kung Li Sun | Nov 22, 2023

Becoming Abolitionist: A Lawyer’s Radical Vision

“The only way that we are going to get people to have a decent, equitable future is to completely re-envision this entire rubric that is suffocating and killing our people,” says lawyer Noelle Hanrahan.

Sonali Kolhatkar | Jul 18, 2023

Opinion | Judicial Power | Rate My Judge | Bail Reform Act | Humphrey Decision

Judging the Judges

How Los Angeles abolitionist organizers are taking on pretrial incarceration and judicial power through community resistance.

Ivette Alé-Ferlito | Mar 6, 2023

An illustrated representation of "a new set of core values" to create how an infrastructure of care appears as a circle with concentric rings: the outer circle is community health, the next inside circle is interpersonal health, followed by individual health. Illustration by Joe Magee for YES! Media.

The Care(ful) Work of Abolishing Prisons

How to kick our national addiction to prisons.

Amanda Alexander, Deanna Van Buren | Feb 27, 2023

Envisioning a New World Through Abolition Geography

“Imagining the impossible is what people have been doing in the struggle for liberation,” says academic and activist Ruthie Wilson Gilmore in a conversation about her latest book.

Sonali Kolhatkar | Feb 7, 2023

Analysis | #BlackLivesMatter | Progress 2025: Race and Policing | Progress 2025

Abolishing the Nation’s Largest Jail System

L.A. County activists are working to replace violent jails with mental health facilities, and to reallocate funding from incarceration toward social services.

Sonali Kolhatkar | Dec 16, 2022

Illustration of birds flying out of a cage

Opinion | Criminal Justice Reform | Mental Health

What Do We Do While Waiting to Realize Prison Abolition?

Attorney Sia Henry shares a wrenching personal experience highlighting the challenges of operating in world where prison abolition is not yet a reality.

Sia Henry | Nov 11, 2022

Opinion | Police | Progress 2025: Race and Policing | Progress 2025

Reimagining Safety and Liberation Without Police

We can work for safety and liberation by investing in community-based alternatives to policing, like mental health programs, public education, restorative justice practices, and economic justice.

Marlene Sanchez | Sep 21, 2022