The Modern Prison in a 'Fear-Haunted World'

Sim brings a critical and abolitionist perspective to the last half century. For him, the prison is a harmful institution that criminalizes the marginalized and sustains the power structures of society. Sim argues that liberal reform will not address the fundamental problems and that abolition is needed--a whole scale reconstruction of social relations and institutions including imprisonment. Sim saw grounds for optimism in the public agitation to release people from prison due to the threat from the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the killing of George Floyd and revistalisation of the Black Lives Matter movement has given greater attention to radical ideas including abolishing and defunding the police. He has been a long-standing standard bearer for such arguments in relation to prisons.