shoplift writes: ""No More Prisons" is an unfortunate choice for a slogan. The prison building boom of the 1990s was precipitated by the wave of mandatory sentencing acts and parole restrictions. To encourage the mounting public backlash against prison construction funds without first changing the laws that created the inmate population is to endorse aging, overcrowded, and unsafe prison and detention facilities.

Just as politicians of the 1990s felt obliged to pass anti-crime laws to please a reactionary public, we are now entering a new era where governors promise "no new prisons" with the introduction of their state budget proposals. Indeed, voters are increasingly unwilling to support the creation of new facilities to provide a safe environment for prisoners. Indeed, the slogan "No More Prisons" is music to the ears right-wing middle Americans, who oppose any of their money being spent on prisoners.

I am familiar with self-described anarchists who take positions which, if taken to their logical conclusion, ultimately produce a crisis situation in the hope of social revolution. The sense of intrigue intoxicates, the goal of impressing one's peers with the purity of one's convictions overrides the actual impact of the political stand being taken.

Far from being impressed by such chi-chi politics, obstensibly leftist but bearing greater similarity to right-wing libertarianism, I am most interested in Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a group with the truly radical goal of changing the laws which govern our lives. More importantly, the group is made up by people who've been directly impacted by the failed policies of the last 20 years. Prison construction is symptomatic of these laws. Take them away, and the need for prisons will decline, not the other way around."