Miriame Kaba, from "Accountability is Not Punishment"
"Punishment means inflicting cruelty and suffering on people. When you are expecting consequences, those can be unpleasant and uncomfortable. But they are not suffering and inflicting pain on people and you want them to suffer as a result. That is different. And what I mean by that is, for example, powerful people stepping down from their jobs are consequences, not punishments. Why? Because you should have boundaries. And because shit that you did was wrong, and you having power is a privilege. That means we can take that away from you. You don't have power any more. But if we were punishing you, we would make it so that you could never make a living again in any context, at any point. That's inflicting cruelty, suffering, and making it so that people cannot actually live a life. They can't access the basic things to make life livable. If you're doing that to somebody, you're punishing them. If you're asking somebody to move to another place because they cause harm to the people living there: consequence. If you're making it so that person should never have housing: punishment."
"Punishment means inflicting cruelty and suffering on people. When you are expecting consequences, those can be unpleasant and uncomfortable. But they are not suffering and inflicting pain on people and you want them to suffer as a result. That is different. And what I mean by that is, for example, powerful people stepping down from their jobs are consequences, not punishments. Why? Because you should have boundaries. And because shit that you did was wrong, and you having power is a privilege. That means we can take that away from you. You don't have power any more. But if we were punishing you, we would make it so that you could never make a living again in any context, at any point. That's inflicting cruelty, suffering, and making it so that people cannot actually live a life. They can't access the basic things to make life livable. If you're doing that to somebody, you're punishing them. If you're asking somebody to move to another place because they cause harm to the people living there: consequence. If you're making it so that person should never have housing: punishment."
From "What Abolitionists Do" by David Stein
"Critics often dismiss prison abolition without a clear understanding of what it even is. Some... describe the goal of abolishing prisons as a fever-dream demand to destroy all prisons tomorrow. But Lancaster’s disregard for abolition appears based on a reading of a highly idiosyncratic and unrepresentative group of abolitionist thinkers and evinces little knowledge of decades of abolitionist organizing and its powerful impacts.
To us, people with a combined several decades of experience in the prison abolition movement, abolition is both a lodestar and a practical necessity. Central to abolitionist work are the many fights for non-reformist reforms — those measures that reduce the power of an oppressive system while illuminating the system’s inability to solve the crises it creates."
"Critics often dismiss prison abolition without a clear understanding of what it even is. Some... describe the goal of abolishing prisons as a fever-dream demand to destroy all prisons tomorrow. But Lancaster’s disregard for abolition appears based on a reading of a highly idiosyncratic and unrepresentative group of abolitionist thinkers and evinces little knowledge of decades of abolitionist organizing and its powerful impacts.
To us, people with a combined several decades of experience in the prison abolition movement, abolition is both a lodestar and a practical necessity. Central to abolitionist work are the many fights for non-reformist reforms — those measures that reduce the power of an oppressive system while illuminating the system’s inability to solve the crises it creates."
ח. מִי שֶׁהוּא בִּתְפִיסָה, בְּיָדוּעַ שֶׁגַּם נִשְׁמָתוֹ לְמַעְלָה בִּתְפִיסָה.
Someone who is incarcerated, it is certain that his soul above is also incarcerated.
ה. כְּשֶׁאֶחָד מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נִתְפַּס. בִּתְפִיסָה, עַל יְדֵי זֶה לְפִי בְּחִינָתוֹ נִסְתְּמוּ מַעַיְנוֹת הַחָכְמָה מֵחַכְמֵי הַדּוֹר, וּלְהֵפֶךְ כְּשֶׁיוֹצֵא מֵהַתְּפִיסָה.
5. When one of the children of Israel falls into incarceration, as a result, according to his aspect, the wellsprings of wisdom are sealed up from the wise of the generation, and the opposite is true when he is freed from incarceration.
חוֹבֵל בַּחֲבֵירוֹ נָמֵי מִכְּדֵי כְּתִיב כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כֵּן יֵעָשֶׂה לוֹ כֵּן יִנָּתֵן בּוֹ לְמָה לִי דָּבָר שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ נְתִינָה וּמַאי נִיהוּ מָמוֹן
The same can be said with regard to one who injures another. Now, since it states: “And a man who places a blemish upon his counterpart, as he has done so shall be done to him” (Leviticus 24:19), why do I require the Torah to state: “As one who places a blemish upon a man, so shall be placed [yinnaten] upon him” (Leviticus 24:20)? This teaches that this is referring to an item that involves giving [netina], and what is that item? It is money.
חוֹבֵל בַּחֲבֵירוֹ נָמֵי מִכְּדֵי כְּתִיב כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כֵּן יֵעָשֶׂה לוֹ כֵּן יִנָּתֵן בּוֹ לְמָה לִי דָּבָר שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ נְתִינָה וּמַאי נִיהוּ מָמוֹן
The same can be said with regard to one who injures another. Now, since it states: “And a man who places a blemish upon his counterpart, as he has done so shall be done to him” (Leviticus 24:19), why do I require the Torah to state: “As one who places a blemish upon a man, so shall be placed [yinnaten] upon him” (Leviticus 24:20)? This teaches that this is referring to an item that involves giving [netina], and what is that item? It is money.
חוֹבֵל בַּחֲבֵירוֹ נָמֵי מִכְּדֵי כְּתִיב כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה כֵּן יֵעָשֶׂה לוֹ כֵּן יִנָּתֵן בּוֹ לְמָה לִי דָּבָר שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ נְתִינָה וּמַאי נִיהוּ מָמוֹן
The same can be said with regard to one who injures another. Now, since it states: “And a man who places a blemish upon his counterpart, as he has done so shall be done to him” (Leviticus 24:19), why do I require the Torah to state: “As one who places a blemish upon a man, so shall be placed [yinnaten] upon him” (Leviticus 24:20)? This teaches that this is referring to an item that involves giving [netina], and what is that item? It is money.
(א) לא טוב היות האדם לבדו לא יושג טוב התכלית המכוון בדמותו ובצלמו אם יצטרך להתעסק הוא עצמו בצרכי חייו:
(1) לא טוב היות האדם לבדו,
The purpose of the human species on earth will not be achieved while a person, who is supposed to reflect the Divine Image, is left to personally carry out all the work of daily life on earth in isolation.
דְּרַבִּי אֲבָהוּ, דְּאָמַר רַבִּי אֲבָהוּ: מָקוֹם שֶׁבַּעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה עוֹמְדִין — צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים אֵינָם עוֹמְדִין, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״שָׁלוֹם שָׁלוֹם לָרָחוֹק וְלַקָּרוֹב״.
Rabbi Abbahu who holds that penitents are superior to the righteous. As Rabbi Abbahu said: A person who has done teshuvah is even more righteous than a righteous person who did not err to begin with! as it is stated: “Peace, peace upon him who is far and him who is near.”