THE EVOLVING CARCERAL LANDSCAPE IN AMERICA

APRIL 10-11, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

The United States was founded as a police state, and has built up its prisons and policing systems over centuries in order to maintain state power and control. However, in recent years, we have seen a rapidly changing and growing carceral state take center stage in American life. From surges in immigration detention and policing by ICE, to the evolution of surveillance technology fueled by AI and social media, to the rollbacks of basic protections of the rule of law, the ground is shifting under us as we try to build a legal system that centers justice and dignity. Simultaneously, decades- and centuries-old injustices continue to fester, devastating the lives of people across the country.

This conference will gather students and scholars from Princeton and other institutions, activists and community organizers, local community members, and justice-impacted individuals to take stock of the current carceral landscape and the struggle to heal its wounds. What has changed in the 2020s, and how are those changes being lived within communities? What new threats to community safety must we combat, and what structural inequalities are yet to be dismantled? And how can we work together to imagine and build a system of genuine justice, on the shaky foundations of our current landscape?

Students for Prison Education, Abolition, and Reform (SPEAR) is thrilled to bring back our annual conference after seven years of hiatus. We hope that this weekend will be an opportunity for learning, reflection, community building, and calls to action, as we continue in our mission of educating, advocating, and agitating against the carceral state.

SPEAR is immensely grateful for the sponsorship and support of USG Projects Board, the Department of African American Studies, the Center for Transnational Policing, the Effron Center for the Study of America, and Princeton Progressives.

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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, APRIL 10

  • Keynote speaker to be announced soon

  • Carceral technology is the latest violent apparatus to encroach on our lives. Companies like Palantir are making billions on selling their innovations to police and prisons, and the technologies and infrastructures that dictate our everyday life are built to capture and influence our every move. Professors and advocates will be gathering to discuss the entanglements between infrastructure, technology, and the carceral system, including what the rise of technologies like social media and AI means for those fighting against carceral violence.

    Full list of speakers to be announced soon

  • The long-standing legacy of police violence was faced head on in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, with communities across the country demanding accountability and a radical approach to police reform and abolition. Nearly six years later, police violence continues to rage in communities across the country, and the shadow of the “War on Drugs” continues to motivate police presence and violence in vulnerable communities. This panel will hear from leaders in policy and advocacy on the current climate of police violence and drug enforcement, and look towards the struggle to keep communities truly safe and peaceful.

    Full list of speakers to be announced soon

  • Students from Princeton and other universities are invited to an evening social to share how we are standing up against the carceral landscape on campuses across the country, and to build joyful community! Meet other cool students, enjoy pizza and cupcakes, and chat about everything from carceral justice to campus life!

    Location: Campus Club 107 (5 Prospect Ave). Undergraduate and graduate students from all institutions welcome!

SATURDAY, APRIL 11

  • Immigration justice advocates have long recognized the deep and violent connections between the immigration system and the carceral system in the US, also called crimmigration. However, the second Trump administration has brought a frightening renewal of this system, exemplified by both the expansion of immigration detention and the incursion of ICE forces in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, and beyond. How does the carceral system manifest at sites of immigration enforcement, from borders to asylum courtrooms to everyday communities? What carceral tactics have expanded in recent years, and how are these violent systems experienced by our local immigrant communities? This panel will have a specific focus on immigration detention and enforcement in New Jersey, and the struggle of local communities to protect immigrant lives in the face of increased attacks.

    Full list of speakers to be published soon

    Breakfast will be provided beginning at 9:30 am.

  • Under the New Jersey Constituion, only the Governor has the power to grant clemency, which includes pardons and commutations, to incarcerated individuals or those on parole. From June 2024 to January 2026, Governor Phil Murphy offered nearly 500 people pardons and commutations of sentences to incarcerated people in New Jersey. As a new governor takes office, how are the opportunities for individuals to be granted clemency changing? How do we offer a chance at freedom and dignity for justice-impacted individuals in our state? This panel, presented in collaboration with SPIA in NJ, will hear from those most directly involved in New Jersey’s clemency process and those advocating to expand the accessibility of early release opportunities.

    Full list of speakers to be published soon

    Lunch will be provided directly after the panel.

  • The carceral system has been built to maintain inequalities, punishing and enacting violence against some communities more than others and amplifying structures of racism, classism, and sexism. At the same time, carceral logics play a critical role in maintaining an unequal international balance, laden with colonial and imperial politics. In this panel, we will hear from both advocates confronting these inequalities and scholars theorizing about how carceral systems promote structural inequality within the US and worldwide.

    Full list of speakers to be published soon

    Lunch will be provided directly before the event.

  • What do we mean when we say we Students for Prison Education, Abolition, and Reform? The movement to confront the carceral landscape has varied approaches and understandings of what a truly just future looks like, from a world free of prisons and policing to a world where those systems exist to promote justice. How do those fighting for carceral justice understand and utilize reformist and abolitionist approaches; are these two incompatible, or do they both offer something to the movement for justice? Can abolitionist understandings and imaginations offer something to a fight for everyday reforms? We hope to use this panel to apply theoretical questions of abolition and reform to real-world actions against the carceral system.

    Full list of speakers to be announced soon

  • Students and activists will lead us in a closing call to action. How can we take the lessons and reflections of this weekend forward, and confront the evolving carceral landscape in our own communities? What can we do to support existing anti-carceral struggles across the state and the country? Let’s look forward together.

    Full list of speakers to be announced soon

  • All attendees are welcome to a catered dinner, to connect and share community with students, advocates, scholars, and community members in the struggle for justice.

    Location: Louis A Simpson International Building, room B60

LOCATION + PARKING MAP

Logistical Information

  • Our conference will take place in McCosh Hall, room 46, next to Washington Road. Please see the above map to guide you to our location.

    Enter McCosh Hall at entrance 4; room 46 is on the second floor, right up the stairs as you enter. The elevator can be accessed through Entrance 5. We will hopefully have signs outside the building on the conference days.

    The location of the student activist social and the reception dinner will be sent via email to registered attendees, with instructions on how to reach the sites.

  • Our campus is easily accessible via public transportation! You can take the Northeast Corridor line on NJ Transit from New York City, Newark, New Brunswick, and Trenton (with connections to Philadelphia via SEPTA). Get off at Princeton Junction and take the “Dinky” shuttle, then walk north towards McCosh Hall. You can also take NJ Transit buses 600, 605, or 606.

    Visitor parking rules on campus differ on weekdays and weekends. For visitors on Friday, we recommend parking in the Stadium Drive Garage and taking the TigerTransit bus to the McCosh Walk on Washington Road stop. You must register for a visitor’s parking permit ahead of time. See the above map for details, and find more information here.

    For visitors on Saturday, you are free to park in any university lot — the closest to our location are Lots 10 and 13 or the Prospect Avenue Garage. (See above map.)

  • Light snacks will be provided on Friday, as well as at the Friday evening student social.

    On Saturday, we will be providing:

    • Breakfast, 9:30 - 10 am, McCosh 46

    • Lunch, 12:15 - 1:15 pm, McCosh 46

    • Dinner at our conference reception, 6-8 pm, location sent to registered attendees

    Vegetarian options will be available at all meals. If you have dietary restrictions that you would like accommodated, please notify us in your regisration by April 1.

  • We aim to make this conference as accessible as we can. If you would like to request accommodations, please notify us in your registration and register by April 1.

    McCosh Hall 46, where the main events will be taking place, is wheelchair-accessible. To view the accessibility information for buildings across campus, please visit https://www.accessableusa.com/princeton-university.

  • We have some funds set aside to make our conference accessible to all, regardless of financial background; we will hopefully be able to reimburse travel costs and/or missed wages. We will prioritize community organizers, justice-impacted individuals, and others who are too often excluded from academic and policy spaces, from the New Jersey/NYC/Philly areas. If you would like to request this support, please note so in your registration by April 1.

  • Undergraduate students from universities outside of New Jersey, New York City, and Philadelphia may request lodging in a SPEAR student’s dorm in order to stay for multiple days of the conference. This support is not guaranteed; please register by April 1 to be considered.

With any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to SPEAR co-presidents Kristin Nagy (kristinnagy@princeton.edu) and Ila Prabhuram (ila.prabhuram@princeton.edu).