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133 Yale L.J. F. 1 (2023-2024)

handle is hein.journals/yljfor133 and id is 1 raw text is: THE YALE LAW JOURNAL FORUM OCTOBER 20, 2023 Abolitionist Prison Litigation Molly Petchenik A B S T RA C T. There has long been a perceived tension between abolition and prison-conditions litigation. This piece offers a path forward for such litigation that is consistent with abolitionist goals. Drawing from experience with Texas state prisons, the piece proposes a framework for liti- gating prison understaffing that advances the project of abolition. INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, abolition has gradually begun to gain recognition, if not acceptance, in mainstream discourse on the criminal legal system.1 [Prison- industrial complex] abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.2 As abolition gains footing among legal prac- titioners, academics, and the broader public, prison-conditions litigation faces an ambiguous future. Since before the mid-twentieth century, people in prison have turned to the courts to vindicate their rights in numerous areas, from racial 1. See, e.g., A Better Path Forward for Criminal Justice: A Report by the Brookings-AEI Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform, BROOKINGS INST. & AM. ENTER. INST. (Apr. 2021), https ://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Better-Path-Forward_Brookins -AEI-report.pdf [https://perma.cc/E63S-37ZZ]; Michael M. O'Hear & Darren Wheelock, Public Attitudes Toward Punishment, Rehabilitation, and Reform: Lessons from the Marquette Law School Poll, 29 FED. SENT'G REP. 1, 47 (Oct. 2016), https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/ cgi/viewcontent.cgi [https://perma.cc/W4FQ-ES8F]; Ruha Benjamin, To Dismantle the Prison System, We Need Viral Justice, TIME (Oct. 18, 2022), https://time.com/6221717/dismantle-prison-system-viral-justice [https://perma.cc/FND6 - FJQD] ; Rachel Kushner, Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind, N.Y. TIMES (Apr. 17, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison- abolition-ruth-wilson-gilmore.html [https://perma.cc/9TZA-DQNH]. 2. What Is the PIC? What Is Abolition?, CRITICAL RESISTANCE, https://criticalresistance.org /about/not-so-common-language [https://perma.cc/4LCH-TQ2Y].

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