[THREAD]
In a moment when jails, prisons, and detention centers are transformed into COVID death camps, I keep thinking about this piece, “Severe punishment for their misfortunes and poverty”: Philadelphia’s Arch Street Prison, 1804–37" by @obrassillkulfan. 1/

2/ The article chronicles the "great loss of life, most notably, at Arch Street during the 1832 cholera epidemic," in which "dozens" of prisoners (mostly arrested for vagrancy) "were dying each day in early August."

you can find the text here:

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/741113 

3/ As we look to decarceral strategies, improve at organizing wirelessly, and amplify calls for aboliton, @obrassillkulfan's examination, no doubt, gives us insights from a similar historical example.

4/ From "Newspapers report[ing] alarmist fears of releasing prisoners or moving sick almshouse inmates lest they contribute to 'spreading the contagion'"...

5/ ...to policies thinking "that the best way to prevent the spread of disease in future epidemics was by instituting more effective policing and punishment,"...

6/ the lessons 1832 Cholera Outbreak at Arch St. in Philly can certainly inform our response to COVID amidst mass incarceration.

7/ But also, it shows how the overwhelming response for the epidemic was for "reform" which did eventually result in the demolition of Arch St." in 1837, only to populate other facilities like the sparkly new prisoners Moyamensing Prison, which opened in 1835.

We mustn't use this moment for piecemeal reforms when the current reality calls, and has always called for nothing less than #abolition. 8/8

H/t to the incredible @melanienewport for throwing this on a syllabus