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Page 1: Permaculture & Prisons

Permaculture & Prisons!International Permaculture Conference 2015

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Beginnings…“In chaos lies unparalleled opportunity for imposing

creative order”

- Bill Mollison

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How many self-inflicted deaths have there been in prison custody in the past 24 years? !A. 364 B. 890 C. 1730 D. 1004

Quiz

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Quiz

In March 2014, what percentage of the prison population was from a minority ethnic background? !A. 39% B. 14% C. 6% D. 26%

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What is the correlation between levels of crime and the growth in the prison population? !

A. Crime rates are 25% higher than in 2002-03 B. Crime rates are 50% higher than in 2002-03 C. Crime rates are more than a quarter less than in

2002-03 D. Crime rates are more than a third less than in 2002-03

Quiz

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How many people in prison are estimated to have learning disabilities or difficulties that interfere with their ability to cope with the criminal justice system?

!!A. 30% B. 15% C. 9.5% D. 5%

Quiz

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The number of children that has had a parent in prison at some point in 2009 is: !A. 200,000 B. 43,000 C. 60,000 D. 75,000

Quiz

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What is your first memory of prison?

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Functions of the Prison System

• Prisons are sold as solutions to social, economic & political problems

• Natural, Normal, Necessary

• State monopoly on ‘safety’ & punishment

“Prison is considered an inevitable and permanent feature of our social lives”

!- Angela Davies

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Prison Industrial Complex

“We are collectively witnessing, surviving, and working in a time of unprecedented state-organized human capture and state-produced physical/social/psychic alienation.” !

- Dylan Rodríguez

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Prison Industrial Complex in the UK

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Are Prisons compatible with permaculture?

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Are Prisons compatible with permaculture?

• Prisons are inherently violent & oppressive • ‘Therapy’ or ‘Healing’ can not come through coercion • Prisons don’t meet the needs of survivors of harm • Little evidence prisons or policing reduce harm • Caging people does not solve the social crises in our societies of racism, sexism, drug abuse, violence, or psycho-emotional struggles.

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“An abolitionist approach … would require us to imagine a constellation of alternative strategies and institutions, with the ultimate aim of removing the prison from the social and ideological landscapes of our society.”

- Angela Davies

Designing a World without Prisons: Permaculture & Prison Abolition

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Prison abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating policing, prisons, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and prison. !It is both a practical organizing tool and a long-term goal.

Prison Abolition

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Design Interventions

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What do you need if you’ve experienced harm?

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Constellations of Alternatives

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Permaculturalists & Prisons• Inform yourself about prison abolition & critical perspectives • Challenge your motives & your privilege • Ensure projects are prisoner-led & centred. • Stay critically aware & have these conversations in your groups • Beware of the Not for Profit Industrial Complex • Organise & be part of broader social struggles against prisons • Focus on transformation rather than assimilation into an oppressive society • Reject projects that naturalise, normalise or perpetuate the P.I.C and its ‘rehabilitation rhetoric’

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Inspiration & Further Resources

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Get involved: • Community Action on Prison Expansion Campaign • Publications • Research • Popular Education • Prisoner Solidarity & Labour Organising

Empty Cages Collective

•www.prisonabolition.org


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