Genealogies of Resistance to Incarceration: Abolition Politics within Deinstitutionalization and Anti-Prison Activism in the U.S.

Genealogies of resistance to incarceration: Abolition politics within de-institutionalization and anti- prison activism in the U.S. looks at two main sites in which abolition of total institutions is enacted. The first site is activism around penal and prison abolition. The second site is deinstitutionalization- the move to close down institutions for people labeled mentally retarded (or intellectual/developmental disabilities) and mental illness (or psychiatric disabilities). My goals in this study are twofold and interrelated. First, I investigate abolition or closure of institutions as a radical form of activism and sketch the costs and benefits of engaging in abolition as an activist tactic. I highlight the limits of reform efforts, but also the way they are used strategically to improve the lives of those who are incarcerated. My second aim is to demonstrate the interwoven relations between multiple sites of incarceration and the resistance to them. I begin by sketching an alternative historiography of prisons and institutions in an attempt to paint some of the perils of these systems that were present from their inception. These landscapes of incarceration are also mapped out in both historical and ideological ways. The phenomenon of psychiatric and developmental disabilities centers closing and then turning into prisons will be highlighted as a parable of the cyclical nature of social control. I also connect prisons and mental institutions by demonstrating the ways in which such institutions shifted from being rehabilitating to custodial; were (and are) embedded in notions of danger; were created for economic gain; and were influenced by increased medicalization, as well as racist and eugenic impetuses that mark them to this day. One of the contributions of my research is in the utilization of Michel Foucault\u27s work not only theoretically, but also methodologically. Genealogies interrogate truth claiming, notions of (scientific) progress, and the discovery of one universal truth, and provide means to extrapolate buried histories of ideas and actions that have been discarded and discredited. As part of this genealogical excavation, I critically investigate instances of possibility, both in deinstitutionalization as a tactic, a dream and its unfulfilled promises and in relation to current prison abolition work and the vision of non-punitive society. During and in the aftermath of the move out of institutions, many critiques were laid out by policy makers, academics, and organizations that cater to people with disabilities. In the popular imagination these staunch criticisms have led to a backlash toward what can be characterized as the failure of deinstitutionalization. Part of this genealogy is devoted to investigating the chasm between activists\u27 perception of the process of institutional closure and that of their critics. As part of such excavation, I also offer an analysis of the ways in which disability, mental illness and prisoners have been constructed in the social sciences (what Foucault characterizes as erudite knowledge), as well as the ways in which these characterizations are resisted, enacted or performed by prison abolition and de-institutionalization activists. I particularly highlight the critiques of the social world offered by those engaging in deinstitutionalization and prison abolition (about disability/mental illness/mental retardation, concepts of home and community, dependence, crime and punishment, social control, social justice etc.). Genealogy also encompasses the excavation of subjugated knowledges, in the Foucauldian sense as both buried histories -the story of the enactment of prisons and institutions told by the activists who wish to abolish them; and disqualified knowledge- disability studies, anti psychiatry scholarship and critical prison studies as forms of knowledge that are deemed non-scientific and illegitimate. Lastly, this work maps the various ways one fights against total institutions and target the instances in which abolition is seen as a useful strategy. In sum, I trace the costs and benefits of utilizing abolition as a strategy of resistance to incarceration, for the activists, for perceptions of them and their work in the public discourse and for their prospective goals. This research also attends to the various ways in which abolitionary practices are combined with others (such as reform efforts) and the social or political constraints that moved movements and activists from one strategy to the other in the winding road towards a non-carceral society

Introduction to the Symposium - Decarcerating Disability, Criminal Justice and Law: New Writing on Disability, Abolition and the Limits of Rights

Liat Ben-Moshe and Linda Steele introduce a Symposium on their 2020 publications Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition (Ben-Moshe) and Disability, Criminal Justice and Law: Reconsidering Court Diversion (Steele). Ben-Moshe and Steele introduce their own books and then identify connections between the books. They situate their discussion in the anti-carceral activism that emerged during 2020 and in longer term activist and scholarly work on deinstitutionalisation, prison abolition and rights in the criminal justice system

Anti-immunoglobulin-like transcript 3 induced acute myocarditis—A case report

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published report of anti-immunoglobulin-like transcript 3 (ILT3)-induced myocarditis. A 48-year old female patient with refractory acute myeloid leukemia who was given a single dose of anti-ILT3 monotherapy presented with fever, hypotension, chest pain, and elevated cardiac biomarkers. Systolic bi-ventricular function was in normal limits. The patient was promptly treated with pulse dose steroids with a rapid hemodynamic and clinical improvement and declining levels of cardiac biomarkers. The diagnosis of acute myocarditis was confirmed using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging applying the revised Lake Lewis criteria. While larger-scale data are needed in order to assess the incidence, management and prognosis of anti-ILT-3 induced myocarditis, we believe a high level of suspicion for adverse non-target cardiac effects is required in patients receiving this novel class of drugs

The Social Medicine Reader

No abstract availabl

Book Review: Implementing the Social Model of Disability: Theory and Research

Author: Colin Barnes and Geof Mercer, Eds. Reviewer: Liat Ben-Moshe Publisher: The Disability Press, 2004 Cost: $30.00, paperback (20% discount for orders of four or more). ISBN: 0952845083 Available from: Centre for Disability Studies, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds, A CD ROM of the book may be requested at the time of book purchase and is supplied free of charge

Book Review: Building an Inclusive Development Community: A Manual on Including People with Disabilities in International Development Programs

Editor: Karen Heinicke-Motsch & Susan Sygall Reviewer: Liat Ben-Moshe Publisher: Mobility International USA, 2004 Available from MIUSA, P.O. Box 10767, Eugene, OR 97440 USA, www.miusa.org Cost: $40.00 USD Alternate Formats: Audiocassette, electronic text files, Braille, and other alternate formats available upon request

Infusing Disability in the Curriculum: The Case of Saramago's "Blindness"

What are the implications of teaching disability as a pure metaphor? Disability often has negative connotations when used metaphorically, while the lived experience of disability can be quite different. In order to demonstrate this contradiction, I discuss some pedagogical aspects of teaching the novel, Blindness, by Jose Saramago. First, I exhibit possible interpretations of the parable that are useful for teaching. Then, I demonstrate the ways blindness is constructed as Otherness and its possible implications for instruction. Finally, I offer several strategies by which Blindness, and other literary portrayals, can be used in the classroom in a critical manner, one that values human variation and diversity