Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition

This chapter examines the anarchist case for abolition by analysing the Peter Kropotkin’s In French and Russian Prisons (1887), perhaps the most influential historical critique. Using themes of environment, culture and social relationships, I discuss his account, explain his scepticism about reform and explain why he concluded that the only sensible answer to the question ‘are prisons necessary?’ was ‘no’. The final section follows the trajectory of two lines of Kropotkin’s abolitionist thesis in anarchist thought. The first ‘environmental’ strand focuses on the systemic injustices that incentivise wrongdoing and the second ‘ethical’ thread emphasises the faultiness of the concept of crime. The argument is that both underwrite the anarchist case for prison abolition.