GRIID Class on understanding the Prison Industrial Complex in Kent County

If you are interested in wanting to understand what the Prison Industrial Complex is and how it functions in Kent County, then this class is for you.

The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is a term that has been used by prison abolitionists for decades and it refers to the systems of power and oppression that play a role in mass incarceration – policing, the court system, parole, probation, jails, prisons, the businesses that have contracts with jails and prisons, the role the local news media plays in normalizing the PIC, and municipal governments that fund and oversee the PIC. 

The group that first coined the phrase, the Prison Industrial Complex, Critical Resistance, defines the PIC as: “The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.”

The Prison Industrial Complex is vast and an 8-week class will not be enough to fully understand all the facets of the PIC. However, the class that GRIID is offering will enhance your understanding, particularly at the local level – Grand Rapids and Kent County.

The goals of this 8 week class on the Prison Industrial Complex in Kent County are:

1. Introduce and provide a framework for understanding the Prison Industrial Complex
2. Discuss and share our collective lived experiences with the PIC in Kent County.
3. Examine how the local news media normalizes policing.
4. Radically re-think the function of the local court system.
5. Utilize data that researchers have done on the Kent County Jail.
6. Map the PIC in Kent County.
7. Propose ways that we can collectively confront the PIC in Kent County and concretely reduce the harm caused by this system at the local level.

This class will utilize numerous online resources, resource material that GRIID has been working on for years, data from other researchers and the book Beyond Courts. GRIID will provide a copy of the book and all the necessary links.

This class is free, since GRIID accessed funds provided through the Community Owns Safety Coalition and their Mutual Aid Project. 

The class will held held on Monday night from 7 – 9pm, beginning on Monday, February 3rd and will go for 8 weeks. The class will be virtual, except for week 8, where we will discuss in person ideas for how we can collectively confront the PIC locally and reduce the harm that disproportionately impacts BIPOC people in Kent County. 

The maximum number of people for this class is 15. If you want to sign up and can commit to the 8 weeks, then send an Email to sjeff987@gmail.com.