Are Prisons Obsolete?

An excellent introduction to abolitionism. Rigorous but accessible, and brief.

This was an interesting, readable look at the history of (chiefly) American incarceration. It's fairly old now (2002), so some of the content on the War on Drugs seems dated, but in general still feels very relevant. I found the chapters on gendered incarceration particularly good. I'd recommend it if you're interested in sociology.

I think this book is a very good introductory read on prison abolition. There wasn't any complicated jargon so it was pretty easy to follow along and it's fairly compact (you could read it in one sitting if you wanted to). I do wish however, that more time was spent talking about alternatives to the prison system. She only really explores decarceration in the last chapter and doesn't necessarily offer viable solutions. Still a really good read though.