Mass Incarceration in the Land of the Free

By Brittany Daniels

My work enables reconfigurations of institutional approaches toward collaborative and community-based work through counter-storytelling, artivist praxis, and somatic abolitionism. This collaborative piece examines the discrepancy of America being “The Land of the Free” while having the highest rate for incarceration globally. Specifically looking at how systemic racial oppression through mass incarceration is perpetuated and maintained to disproportionately impact people of color. As aspiring social workers, my colleagues and I contemplated the field of social work standing in a precarious position as justice seekers and systemic norm regulators. We created this as a space for us to examine the past, feel the tension of the present, and imagine a better future.