Rebellion, Reform, and the U.S. Punishment System with Jarrod Shanahan

This hybrid event will be a conversation with scholar Jarrod Shanahan about the history of prisons and jails in New York, the present arrangement of the carceral state, and the 2020 rebellion. How do the histories of capitalism and the carceral state inform how we understand the radical challenges that emerged in the summer of 2020? What does the history of jail construction on Rikers Island have to teach those of us struggling for liberation in the here and now? And how do we understand the so-called reform efforts, flush with private foundation money, which speak the language of social justice and even abolitionism, but seek to construct new jails and further empower America’s cops? 

Jarrod Shanahan is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Governors State University. He is the author of Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage (Verso, 2022) and co-author of States of Incarceration (Field Notes/Reaktion, 2022) with Zhandarka Kurti.

This event is free and open to the public.

Location: UC Santa Cruz, Humanities 1-Room 202 and on Zoom

Register here for the Zoom link 

Sponsor: UCSC Center for Racial Justice

Contact for questions: Abby Cunniff, acunniff@ucsc.edu