emptying cages

i recently devoured the book Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles Of Incarcerated Women, and it started me thinking about the use of prisons in the united states and the effectiveness of incarceration in deterring crime. it would seem that other folks have cages on their mind as well: royce at vegans of color put up a post about incarcerating people of color for animal cruelty, and there was recently some lengthy debate about the inclusion of hate crime laws in different ENDA [employment non-discrimination act] legislation floating around the country. both discuss the abuse of the current (in)justice system — putting people of color and trans people, respectively, behind bars in greater numbers than white and cisgender people — and the failure of the threat of prison to prevent crime.

as vegans advocating for the end of the imprisonment of non-human animals, i can’t fathom how we can simultaneously support a system that puts human animals in cages — especially those humans who are systematically marginalized, silenced, and oppressed. the SRLP, referenced above, also expresses some concern that the inherent power and hierarchy in the criminal justice system will never allow for a level playing field, and those laws put in place to protect marginalized groups through the use of incarceration (i.e. hate crime legislation) may end up putting more of us behind bars. if the laws are going to be enforced unequally based on race, class, gender, etc. then i, as a vegan, cannot support them.

a few things turned my stomach about the article referenced in the vegans of color post above. in addition to the reporter completely dehumanizing cheyenne cherry, the young, black woman who killed a cat by putting her in the oven (royce rightly notes that billions of people do this very thing every day to a chicken, and yet none of them will find themselves arraigned and sentenced to a year in jail), discussion of a demonstration outside of the courthouse includes quotes from participants calling cherry “ugly” and “a monster.” (and don’t even bother reading the comments below the article from readers; some of the vitriol there is more than i can handle.) i wonder how many of those demonstrators wore animals to the courthouse, went home to consume animals, or purchase products that were tested on (and resulted in the murder of) animals? breeze also notes, in the comments, that mike huckabee’s (white, male) son allegedly hanged a dog in 1998 but was never prosecuted, either due to his race, his father’s influence, bias/reluctance by the local enforcement, or all of the above.

i remember when the michael vick dog-fighting case occurred, gary francione seemed to be the lone voice attempting to humanize vick and bring some perspective to the crime. other individuals and media outlets were quick to brutalize, pathologize, and otherwise create a monster out of michael vick, as if the idea of animal abuse was completely unfathomable and absent from the rest of the world. of course, i find dog-fighting, murdering cats, abuse or violence against any animal or human completely atrocious, but i’m not sure that throwing michael vick or cheyenne cherry in jail is going to prevent any future violence against animals. in fact, it is committing an act of violence against human animals. the united states incarcerates more of its population than any other country (one in 100 adults are in jail in the united states, as of 2008); crime rates, however, are rising. statistics go on to further suggest that 45 percent of people once incarcerated will commit crimes upon their release.

incarceration is not working to prevent future crimes from being committed, and it is oppressing people of color, women, and/or gender non-conforming individuals. so what is the answer? it seems like education, drug rehabilitation, counseling, and striking at the societal roots of racism/sexism/classism/heterosexism/speciesism would go a lot further in preventing crime than putting people in cages (where further violence is perpetuated through abuse by inmates, guards, and the system itself). after all, aren’t we as vegans working toward the elimination of those cages, regardless of who is contained within their walls?