Prison Abolition for Realists

Anna Terwiel

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Hardback

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English

University of Minnesota Press
01 December 2025

Social & political philosophy; Penology & punishment

A lucid guide to the radical politics of prison abolitionists

There is growing recognition that mass incarceration is unjust and undemocratic, but prison abolition continues to be dismissed as nave, idealistic, and out of touch with reality. Anna Terwiel challenges this view, carefully examining the work of abolitionist thinkers and activists since the 1960s to argue that prison abolition is a realist political project. Abolition, Terwiel shows, is oriented toward practical realities and offers concrete proposals for radical democratic change.

Based on insightful readings of renowned abolitionists such as Michel Foucault, Liat Ben-Moshe, and Angela Y. Davis, Prison Abolition for Realists illuminates the realist aspects of their approaches as well as the important differences between them. Distinguishing between paranoid, purist, and agonistic styles of abolitionism, Terwiel argues that an agonistic approach holds the most promise for democratic change to carceral systems. Embodied in the work of Davis, agonistic abolitionism combines radical critique with efforts to build new democratic institutions while accepting that all political achievements will be imperfect. Pursuing examples of what this looks like in practice, Terwiel explores grassroots transformative justice efforts, like those of Communities Against Rape and Abuse. She also proposes a ""right to comfort"" to support incarcerated people's demands for air conditioners in extremely hot prisons, showing how state institutions, civil law, and rights claims can be potential resources for abolitionists.

Nuanced and illuminating, Prison Abolition for Realists affirms abolition's viability during a time of multiple, ongoing crises. While many despair at the state of the world, Terwiel reveals how abolition offers an actionable politics of the possible. Far from being unrealistic, abolition is an indispensable part of a realist politics.

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By: Anna Terwiel
Imprint: University of Minnesota Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 425g
ISBN: 9781517920395
ISBN 10: 1517920396
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 01 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Anna Terwiel is assistant professor of political science at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. She is codirector of Trinity's Prison Education Project (TPEP), which offers credit-bearing classes to incarcerated people. Her research has been published in Political Theory; Polity; Theory & Event; and New Political Science.

Reviews for Prison Abolition for Realists

""Both clearly written and timely in its subject matter, Prison Abolition for Realists offers a cogent way of thinking about abolition. Anna Terwiel intervenes in the debate over whether abolition is utopian in its aims and excellently frames her argument in the tradition of political realism.""--Ali Aslam, coauthor of Earthborn Democracy: A Political Theory of Entangled Life