1 00:00:17,224 --> 00:00:20,916 Prisons are an essential part of the so-called criminal justice system. 2 00:00:21,345 --> 00:00:24,632 They exist to isolate and "resocialize" people 3 00:00:24,732 --> 00:00:28,019 who are considered a threat to society. 4 00:00:28,119 --> 00:00:32,317 Yet, while the number of prisons and people incarcerated continues to increase, 5 00:00:32,417 --> 00:00:34,466 the same cannot be said for the sense of 6 00:00:34,566 --> 00:00:36,616 security felt by those of us living in big cities. 7 00:00:37,424 --> 00:00:41,006 So, do prisons really contribute to making our lives safer 8 00:00:41,106 --> 00:00:44,689 and to building a less violent and more just world? 9 00:00:47,832 --> 00:00:51,064 Although we always hear that the people who fill 10 00:00:51,164 --> 00:00:54,397 the cells and galleries of the prisons represent a 11 00:00:54,497 --> 00:00:57,730 serious threat to our security, only a small fraction 12 00:00:57,830 --> 00:01:01,063 are imprisoned for violent crimes. 13 00:01:01,163 --> 00:01:04,009 In 2019, in Brazil, only 11% of inmates 14 00:01:04,109 --> 00:01:06,956 are imprisoned for violent actions 15 00:01:07,056 --> 00:01:12,850 like homicide, assault, rape, threat or domestic violence. 16 00:01:13,882 --> 00:01:16,887 Almost 40% were arrested for possessing or selling 17 00:01:16,987 --> 00:01:19,992 illicit substances. 18 00:01:20,831 --> 00:01:26,016 And to make matters worse, 35% of them have not even faced trial. 19 00:01:26,116 --> 00:01:30,015 In other words, they may not have committed the crimes 20 00:01:30,115 --> 00:01:34,014 that they are already being punished for. 21 00:01:34,847 --> 00:01:39,176 Movies and the mainstream media tell us that the prisons are full 22 00:01:39,276 --> 00:01:43,605 of serial killers, but in reality they are full of ordinary people. 23 00:01:43,705 --> 00:01:47,402 The deeds that brought them to prison were of little impact, 24 00:01:47,502 --> 00:01:51,200 compared to the actions, whether legal or illegal, 25 00:01:51,300 --> 00:01:54,997 of banks, police, governments, and corporations, 26 00:01:55,097 --> 00:01:58,795 that shorten and worsen the lives of millions. 27 00:01:58,895 --> 00:02:02,867 And it is often the actions of these institutions that push 28 00:02:02,967 --> 00:02:06,939 some people to despair and crime. 29 00:02:07,039 --> 00:02:10,290 Being in prison has less to do with 30 00:02:10,390 --> 00:02:13,642 an individual's tendency towards violence than it does with race, class and power. 31 00:02:15,565 --> 00:02:20,635 In fact, prison serves to label groups of people as 32 00:02:20,735 --> 00:02:25,805 criminals so that they can be controlled, in the name of stability. 33 00:02:27,290 --> 00:02:31,400 This process of criminalization allows for the violent intervention of the state 34 00:02:31,500 --> 00:02:35,611 in the lower classes, whether by recruiting people into its repressive apparatus, 35 00:02:35,711 --> 00:02:39,821 or arresting and killing them 36 00:02:39,921 --> 00:02:44,032 in the name of public order and property defense. 37 00:02:44,822 --> 00:02:47,484 Even the argument that the police exist 38 00:02:47,584 --> 00:02:50,247 to keep us safe from violence is false: 39 00:02:50,347 --> 00:02:55,772 about 70% of homicide cases are unsolved in Brazil, 40 00:02:55,872 --> 00:03:01,297 while more than 3,000 people were killed by police across 41 00:03:01,397 --> 00:03:06,823 the country between January and September 2020 alone (of which 80% were black). 42 00:03:10,106 --> 00:03:12,539 The judicial system is selective. 43 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:16,955 It treats people of different races and classes differently. 44 00:03:17,055 --> 00:03:21,873 If all thefts, threats, injuries, and other crimes 45 00:03:21,973 --> 00:03:26,791 were punished, basically the entire population would be criminalized. 46 00:03:27,518 --> 00:03:30,510 The system needs to be selective. 47 00:03:31,234 --> 00:03:34,663 If it were to punish everyone who broke the law, 48 00:03:34,763 --> 00:03:38,192 there would be no one left to be a prison guard, police officer, or judge. 49 00:03:39,274 --> 00:03:42,265 White, rich and educated people have a 50 00:03:42,365 --> 00:03:45,357 much lower chance of being punished for their crimes. 51 00:03:46,070 --> 00:03:49,804 While poor, black, and uneducated people are at much greater 52 00:03:49,904 --> 00:03:53,639 risk of being punished for crimes they have not even committed, 53 00:03:53,739 --> 00:03:57,426 and when convicted, they receive much harsher penalties. 54 00:03:57,526 --> 00:04:00,596 In short, what is called the failure 55 00:04:00,696 --> 00:04:03,767 of the justice system to end crimes and criminals is, 56 00:04:03,867 --> 00:04:06,937 in fact, its success, because its main objective 57 00:04:07,037 --> 00:04:10,108 is the rational distribution of violence among the working classes. 58 00:04:13,710 --> 00:04:18,293 At the end of the day, the justice system functions more as a tool for 59 00:04:18,393 --> 00:04:22,977 preserving the status quo, protecting private property and other privileges 60 00:04:23,077 --> 00:04:27,661 of the elite, by forcing submission upon non-conformists 61 00:04:27,761 --> 00:04:30,003 and all those unwilling to abide by the laws created to 62 00:04:30,103 --> 00:04:32,345 maintain the injustices of capitalist society. 63 00:04:34,116 --> 00:04:36,209 For the real crimes against humanity 64 00:04:36,309 --> 00:04:38,403 are committed by the ruling classes 65 00:04:38,503 --> 00:04:42,791 in maintaining their privileges and defending property. 66 00:04:51,885 --> 00:04:54,930 But let's imagine a world where 67 00:04:55,030 --> 00:04:57,176 only those who have committed serious acts 68 00:04:57,276 --> 00:05:01,668 of violence are imprisoned, regardless of their race or class. 69 00:05:03,944 --> 00:05:07,576 When a person goes to jail, they are subjected 70 00:05:07,676 --> 00:05:11,308 to violent and cruel treatment, and they are violated and stripped of their dignity. 71 00:05:11,408 --> 00:05:14,767 They are often abused and violated by other 72 00:05:14,867 --> 00:05:18,226 inmates or prison guards. 73 00:05:19,028 --> 00:05:23,813 All this suffering, although often not caused directly by the state, 74 00:05:23,913 --> 00:05:26,256 is an intentional outcome, because the prison system 75 00:05:26,356 --> 00:05:28,699 is premised on the idea that 76 00:05:28,799 --> 00:05:33,585 punishment leads one to regret their actions and change their behavior, 77 00:05:33,685 --> 00:05:36,028 and that fear of punishment will 78 00:05:36,128 --> 00:05:39,171 deter others from committing crimes. 79 00:05:39,631 --> 00:05:41,625 However, a look at the 200 year history of the 80 00:05:41,625 --> 00:05:45,948 criminal justice system shows that it doesn't work. 81 00:05:46,048 --> 00:05:49,889 People haven't stop commiting crimes for fear of punishment. 82 00:05:49,989 --> 00:05:53,070 Both the sense of insecurity and number of arrests are increasing. 83 00:05:53,711 --> 00:05:56,801 This proves that, besides being cruel, the regime of 84 00:05:56,901 --> 00:05:59,991 carceral punishment is irrational, and does not provide what it promises. 85 00:06:00,091 --> 00:06:01,591 So why do we insist on keeping it around? 86 00:06:03,044 --> 00:06:06,672 No one learns to live in society by being isolated from it. 87 00:06:06,772 --> 00:06:09,955 Prisons, in general, make people more 88 00:06:10,055 --> 00:06:13,239 violent and ill-adapted to social coexistence. 89 00:06:13,339 --> 00:06:15,724 They do not serve to re-educate anyone. 90 00:06:15,824 --> 00:06:19,467 What you learn there is how to live in a prison. 91 00:06:21,356 --> 00:06:26,549 Is it efficient to use violence to create a less violent world? 92 00:06:26,649 --> 00:06:30,349 Or will it just reinforce the idea of using violence as 93 00:06:30,449 --> 00:06:34,149 a preferred way to solve problems? 94 00:06:35,267 --> 00:06:38,157 Does it make sense for us to use deprivation of liberty 95 00:06:38,257 --> 00:06:41,147 as a way to achieve a freer world? 96 00:06:41,952 --> 00:06:45,839 Or does this put all of our freedom at risk? 97 00:06:50,316 --> 00:06:53,910 The punitive reaction always has a monopolizing tendency. 98 00:06:54,010 --> 00:06:56,869 Punishment gives the false impression of justice, 99 00:06:56,969 --> 00:06:59,829 leaving aside other more effective, 100 00:06:59,929 --> 00:07:02,789 but less immediate and 101 00:07:02,889 --> 00:07:05,749 visible ways of solving our problems. 102 00:07:05,849 --> 00:07:09,595 Punishment, for example, does not help aggressors to understand 103 00:07:09,695 --> 00:07:13,441 the abuses they have committed, nor prevent them from repeating them in the future. 104 00:07:13,541 --> 00:07:17,837 Moreover, the total focus that punishment places on the aggressors leaves the abused 105 00:07:17,937 --> 00:07:22,233 aside, offering no material or psychological support to those who have been harmed. 106 00:07:24,389 --> 00:07:27,613 The punishment hijacks the will of the victim in the name 107 00:07:27,713 --> 00:07:30,937 of state interests, not with the objective of 108 00:07:31,037 --> 00:07:34,261 reducing pain or solving a situation. 109 00:07:34,361 --> 00:07:37,586 110 00:07:38,107 --> 00:07:41,823 The focus on punishment turns it into a final objective, 111 00:07:41,923 --> 00:07:45,640 preventing the creation of truly transformative mechanisms. 112 00:07:50,559 --> 00:07:53,864 In the territories occupied by the Brazilian State, hundreds 113 00:07:53,964 --> 00:07:57,269 of thousands of people are imprisoned in degrading situations. 114 00:07:57,369 --> 00:08:00,204 The third largest prison population in the world. 115 00:08:00,831 --> 00:08:03,826 The idea that punishment can provide 116 00:08:03,926 --> 00:08:06,921 security for our communities is deeply 117 00:08:07,021 --> 00:08:10,016 rooted in our culture, even children are often 118 00:08:10,116 --> 00:08:13,111 punished when they do not act the way we expect. 119 00:08:13,678 --> 00:08:18,467 But our societies are living proof that this model does not work. 120 00:08:21,865 --> 00:08:25,090 Prisons have not always existed, but the idea of abolishing them 121 00:08:25,190 --> 00:08:28,415 frightens people, because of the idea that 122 00:08:28,515 --> 00:08:31,740 they are a necessary solution. That if a trial has been held, and there has 123 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:35,065 been a conviction and a sentence, the problem is solved. 124 00:08:35,382 --> 00:08:39,733 But that person will return to society, more broken and, 125 00:08:39,833 --> 00:08:44,185 therefore, more capable of carrying out unpleasant acts. 126 00:08:46,784 --> 00:08:50,809 Often, prison disrupts the families of those incarcerated, 127 00:08:50,909 --> 00:08:54,935 which makes all of their lives harder, 128 00:08:55,035 --> 00:08:59,061 and may lead other family members to resort to 129 00:08:59,161 --> 00:09:03,187 criminal activities to survive, feeding the cycle of violence. 130 00:09:03,287 --> 00:09:07,547 This vicious cycle that pushes more and more people towards crime 131 00:09:07,647 --> 00:09:11,907 is the true function of the criminal justice system in modern societies. 132 00:09:12,007 --> 00:09:16,168 It is one of the methods the system uses to discipline bodies, 133 00:09:16,268 --> 00:09:20,429 making them economically useful and politically docile, 134 00:09:18,787 --> 00:09:22,077 and making the working classes 135 00:09:22,177 --> 00:09:25,467 governable and disposable. 136 00:09:35,505 --> 00:09:38,376 Deeds only become crimes once they have been 137 00:09:38,476 --> 00:09:41,347 defined that way in law or culture. 138 00:09:41,447 --> 00:09:44,593 The drug trade is the most obvious example. 139 00:09:44,693 --> 00:09:49,371 The use of drugs in recreational or religious rituals has been part of the 140 00:09:49,471 --> 00:09:51,760 history of many societies and cultures 141 00:09:51,860 --> 00:09:54,149 for tens of thousands of years 142 00:09:54,249 --> 00:09:57,665 and only began to be criminalized in the twentieth century. 143 00:09:58,223 --> 00:10:01,299 An arbitrary criminalization that generates a real 144 00:10:01,399 --> 00:10:04,475 social war against the poorest, 145 00:10:04,575 --> 00:10:07,651 while allowing corporations to profit billions from 146 00:10:07,751 --> 00:10:10,827 the sale of legal but no less dangerous drugs. 147 00:10:11,923 --> 00:10:15,164 Whole groups of people are targeted by the 148 00:10:15,264 --> 00:10:17,705 criminal justice system simply 149 00:10:17,805 --> 00:10:22,787 for trying to survive, like poor, black, and indigenous people. 150 00:10:22,887 --> 00:10:27,430 Others are criminalized for resisting capitalism and the state. 151 00:10:29,708 --> 00:10:32,656 In our culture, we are manipulated, 152 00:10:32,756 --> 00:10:35,704 through myths, to believe that whoever commits 153 00:10:35,804 --> 00:10:38,752 a crime is a direct threat to us and our 154 00:10:38,852 --> 00:10:41,801 families, and that our security can be 155 00:10:41,901 --> 00:10:44,849 assured if we surveil, control, 156 00:10:44,949 --> 00:10:47,898 and imprison those groups of people who 157 00:10:47,998 --> 00:10:50,946 suffer most from poverty, racism, 158 00:10:51,046 --> 00:10:53,995 colonialism, or other forms of oppression. 159 00:10:55,590 --> 00:10:58,613 Much of the violence committed by people 160 00:10:58,713 --> 00:11:01,737 in today's world is the result of the deprivations, 161 00:11:01,837 --> 00:11:04,860 inequalities, and abuses caused by the much more violent 162 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:07,984 actions of states and corporations. 163 00:11:08,084 --> 00:11:11,412 By getting rid of this capitalist and authoritarian system, 164 00:11:11,512 --> 00:11:14,841 we can begin to get rid of the problems it has created. 165 00:11:23,548 --> 00:11:26,798 The State benefits from the lie that to have 166 00:11:26,898 --> 00:11:30,149 security, we must give up some of our freedom. 167 00:11:30,249 --> 00:11:33,861 Since security is a feeling directly 168 00:11:33,961 --> 00:11:37,573 tied to our survival, the State manages to convince us 169 00:11:37,673 --> 00:11:41,285 that we won't be able to enjoy the little freedom we have, 170 00:11:41,385 --> 00:11:46,697 unless we prioritize security and accept its protection. 171 00:11:46,823 --> 00:11:49,673 In the name of security, the model of prison 172 00:11:49,773 --> 00:11:52,624 surveillance and control is replicated in the family, 173 00:11:52,724 --> 00:11:55,574 school, hospital, factory and throughout our communities, 174 00:11:55,674 --> 00:11:58,525 becoming omnipresent in our lives. 175 00:11:58,625 --> 00:12:02,510 To the extent that society has been unable to abolish prison, 176 00:12:02,510 --> 00:12:04,997 it has been swallowed up by the prison system. 177 00:12:05,097 --> 00:12:09,432 Today we live in open-air concentration camps, 178 00:12:09,532 --> 00:12:13,868 monitored and policed, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 179 00:12:13,968 --> 00:12:16,612 Whether in shopping malls or public squares, in streets and alleys, 180 00:12:16,712 --> 00:12:19,357 ghettos and slums; whether in luxury condominiums 181 00:12:19,457 --> 00:12:22,102 or in the less luxurious neighborhoods 182 00:12:22,202 --> 00:12:24,847 of the frightened and cowardly middle class. 183 00:12:25,431 --> 00:12:28,619 And so we give away more and more of our freedom, 184 00:12:28,719 --> 00:12:31,908 in the name of a security that never comes. 185 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:40,184 In fact, our survival, safety and freedom depend on how well 186 00:12:40,184 --> 00:12:42,536 we take care of each other, 187 00:12:43,664 --> 00:12:46,506 not how high the walls we build around us. 188 00:12:46,606 --> 00:12:50,746 As long as there are states and authoritarian desires, 189 00:12:50,846 --> 00:12:54,986 we will need to defend ourselves from those who want to subjugate and exploit us. 190 00:12:55,150 --> 00:12:58,173 Sometimes we will also need to defend ourselves 191 00:12:58,273 --> 00:13:01,296 from those who threaten us by not recognizing our boundaries, 192 00:13:01,396 --> 00:13:04,419 by not empathizing with us, or by 193 00:13:04,519 --> 00:13:07,543 simply not realizing the consequences of their actions. 194 00:13:08,383 --> 00:13:15,943 The way we organize our defense can be a danger to our freedom. 195 00:13:28,028 --> 00:13:31,540 Safety is born of healthy relationships between people. 196 00:13:32,315 --> 00:13:35,672 People are safe when they have their needs met, 197 00:13:35,672 --> 00:13:37,859 when they are not desperate, 198 00:13:37,859 --> 00:13:40,511 when they have safe spaces to heal themselves 199 00:13:40,611 --> 00:13:43,264 from trauma, and when traumas are prevented to begin with. 200 00:13:43,264 --> 00:13:45,851 In short, we build safety by ensuring 201 00:13:45,951 --> 00:13:48,538 that people have what they need 202 00:13:48,638 --> 00:13:51,225 and by building healthy relationships and communities, 203 00:13:51,325 --> 00:13:53,912 not with police and prisons. 204 00:13:55,586 --> 00:13:58,881 It is important that we focus on actions that work 205 00:13:58,981 --> 00:14:02,276 to prevent and decrease the root causes of violence. 206 00:14:02,566 --> 00:14:03,953 And that when harm occurs, 207 00:14:03,953 --> 00:14:07,422 we privilege the needs of those who have suffered, 208 00:14:07,422 --> 00:14:11,227 and try to understand the underlying reasons that led to the harmful actions. 209 00:14:11,227 --> 00:14:14,534 And that we try to ensure that the person who committed the aggression 210 00:14:14,634 --> 00:14:17,941 has the opportunity to live differently. 211 00:14:20,505 --> 00:14:23,423 We must challenge ourselves to see threats and conflicts as 212 00:14:23,523 --> 00:14:26,442 opportunities to transform ourselves and others, 213 00:14:26,542 --> 00:14:29,460 rather than framing our antagonists as 214 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,479 permanent enemies that we need to destroy. 215 00:14:35,786 --> 00:14:38,881 Prisons and police have destroyed 216 00:14:38,981 --> 00:14:42,076 our people and communities for far too long. 217 00:14:42,423 --> 00:14:46,458 There are other ways to deal with the inevitable conflicts of life. 218 00:14:46,558 --> 00:14:50,593 Ways that see people as capable of growing, redeeming, and healing, 219 00:14:50,693 --> 00:14:54,728 and which are based around meeting the needs of the community, 220 00:14:54,828 --> 00:14:58,864 rather than protecting a system of oppression and inequality. 221 00:15:00,943 --> 00:15:04,752 Revolution is a process of destroying the power of the state; 222 00:15:04,852 --> 00:15:08,662 it is also a process of the rebirth of real communities. 223 00:15:10,062 --> 00:15:13,157 Capitalism forces us to be dependent 224 00:15:13,257 --> 00:15:16,353 on its mechanisms for our survival, 225 00:15:16,453 --> 00:15:18,358 but after it is destroyed, 226 00:15:18,358 --> 00:15:22,745 our survival will return to being a collective responsibility.