Organizing for Freedom: The Angola Special Civics Project, 1987-1992

<p> <p>During the 1980s and 1990s, the US prison system was expanding at an unprecedented rate. This research charts how prisoners at the nation’s largest maximum-security prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly referred to as Angola, founded the Angola Special Civics Project to collectively organize for prison reform. Using a combination of oral history and archival research, this thesis argues that the Angola Special Civics Project emerged during an era of political opportunity created by the coupling of political openings and contractions. Unlike outside advocates who focused their reform efforts on internal conditions, the Angola Special Civics Project centering of prisoners’ experiential knowledge led them to organize for an end to life sentencing through a combination of research, political education, electoral organizing, and coalition building. This thesis further asserts that their organizing should be conceptualized as a form of prison abolitionist reforms.</p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p> <p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p> <p> <p> <p> <p> </p> </p> </p> </p> <p> <p> <p> </p> </p> </p> <p> <p> </p> </p> <p> </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Planning and Urban Studies

Year

2011

Author dc:creator

• Pelot-Hobbs, Lydia

Contributors dc:contributor

• Luft, Rachel
• Ehrenfeucht, Renia
• Steeby, Elizabeth

• Louisiana State Penitentiary--Angola, social movements, prison reform, prison
• Sociology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/349

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-1267