This letter is a culmination of reflections from a series of meetings and intentional decision-making discussions from within the Prison Justice Project.  This student organization has been in existence since February of 2010 when a group of students gathered to organize a speaker series about the Prison Industrial Complex. The series was an effort to both further educate the group, as well as to bring knowledge and awareness to campus surrounding the PIC. The PJP has since devolved into a group of students who, over the past few semesters, have met weekly with little self-reflection of their positionality and while operating under the assumption that simply being in the space was doing direct prison reform and abolition organizing work. This did not allow the PJP to be held accountable to communities of color and communities most directly affected by the PIC. This is not to minimize or erase the work and involvement of students and faculty of color with the PJP over the years. Since its founding, many people of color, women of color and queers of color have been central to the organizing efforts of the group. This letter, though, is a direct response to the current standing of the PJP, rather than a reflection of its history or inception.

Student organizing, tied to elite private institutions, can only be transformative when it is directly accountable to the communities leading these fights. The PJP, as it currently operates, cannot be a part of movement building. We cannot consider ourselves leaders in this movement. Historically and currently on this campus, white students co-opt movements organized and led by communities of color. The PIC is a fundamental and violent method of structuring our society in which we are all complicit, albeit we experience its effects in a multitude of ways. However, any prison justice or prison abolition movement should be led by people of color, people experiencing incarceration, formerly incarcerated peoples or communities most directly targeted by the PIC.

Committing to these understandings, the PJP has decided to no longer meet on a weekly basis or to reapply for funding for the next school year. Through this process of self-reflection and criticism, we are redefining our current roles in this movement as students at Oberlin College. Individually and collectively we are engaging in other organizing that is palpable and present in local projects that directly affect communities in the Oberlin area. We encourage those that are also dedicated to prison justice and prison abolition to get involved with work that is being organized in our communities. (Some local resources available which are engaged in fighting intersecting forms of oppression are: The Bail Fund, Books To Prisoners, The Edmonia Lewis Center, The Grafton Education Exchange Program and The One Town Campaign.) For those who are looking for more educational support or resources, we encourage you to apply for the ExCo Oppression and Resistance: Framing the Prison Industrial Complex.

The disbanding of the Prison Justice Project by no means signifies or suggests the end of students thinking about and engaging with the Prison Industrial Complex. We hope that the space created through the dissolving of the PJP will allow for more accountable leadership and organizing to emerge. As individuals, we are committed to continuing to support in any capacity the prison abolition movement and all related activities in our communities.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us through the PJP e-mail [email protected]. We will maintain that e-mail address until the end of the semester.

-Former Members of The Prison Justice Project