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![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].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/yljfor133&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)