Table of Contents Section 1

We Are AliveStories from inside/out of people serving long term sentencing and campaigns/struggles for liberation.1) Staying Alive Monica Cosby, formerly incarcerated mom, Mothers Against Violence and Incarceration 2) Death by Incarceration by Decarcerated PA3) Two TermsBenny Rio, incarcerated writer at Stateville, not yet confirmed4) Football Numbers Philip Hartsfield, incarcerated writer at Stateville5) Interviewwith Beth Richie + Albert WoodboxSection 2: Long Term Sentencing and the Illusion/Myths of SafetyTexts will sketch out the architecture of long term sentencing as a pillar of mass criminalization and incarceration1) The Truth about Truth In Sentencing by Joseph Dole2) Historical analysis of Long Term SentencingJames Kilgore3) Up Close and Personal:A Look at Women and Long-Term Prison SentencesCathy Boudine4)Conversation on the politics of being 'tough on crime'Dylan Rodriguez, Page May, Jason Perez5) Suspended: a science fiction futureKristina Colon, not yet confirmed6) Million Dollar blocks and Vacant NeighborhoodsRyan HollonSection 3: Liberatory Feminisms: Towards Dismantling White SupremacyA product of white supremacy and patriarchal frameworks, long term sentencing creates norms and shapes how we see ourselves and each other. This section critiques norms and imagines futures.1) Prison is Not FeministMairiame Kaba2) Collective Determinations: BYP100 and Fund Black FuturesJanae Bonsu3) Against carceral feminisms: why reversing the long term sentence is about rethinking responses to violence, including interpersonal violence and ending violence against "women and children"Deana Lewis and Rachel Caidor4) The Longest long-term: Aboriginal and Indigenous resistancesBoneta-Marie Mabo (Australia), Standing Rock image/Melanie Cervantes Digntade/Rebele, Naomi Moyer not yet confirmed.5)Gender non-conforming bodiesLiat Ben-Moshe in dialogue with Reina Gosset not yet confirmedSection 4: Long Term Resistance // Building Resistance for the Long Term1) Schooling and the Prison Industrial ComplexDave Stovall2) We Charge Genocide and the Homan Square campaignDamon Williams3) Organizing Ban the BoxVivian Nixon or Glen Martin not yet confirmed4) Lessons from All of Us or NoneLinda Evans5) Long term intergenerational strugglesLaura Whitehorn(New York?), Cara Page (New York), Debbie Kilroy (Australia Sisters Inside),Julia Whaipooti (New Zealand,JUSTspeak), Amanda George (Australia), INCITE, Rachel Herzing (CR, etc), Craig Gilmore (NYC), facilitated by Paula Austin or Bill Ayers (JILL) not yet confirmed6) Legacies of Margaret BurroughsEve Ewing, not yet confirmedSection 5: Litanies for SurvivalShort texts from writers in prison and families of incarcerated people. Recommend to dispersethese throughout the book.1) Five things I know I need to stay free for the long-term 250 words and images set up in an essay format: students at Sister Jean Adult High School

edited and framed by Crystal Laura and/or Karen Reyes

2) Survival strategies for siblingsMaya Schenwar, Elizabeth Brent3) Survival strategies insideby a woman writer inside, not yet confirmed Cedric Cal4) Survival strategies for parentsMary L Johnson, Armanda Shackelford. Robin Thompkins, the Cals, the Cunninghams, Sistas of the Hood, not yet confirmed.5) Father and Son insideKenneth + Michael Key (Sarah has asked, will follow up)

The voices of those experiencing life in the long term are often not heard. This collection of essays and personal stories from the people most impacted by long-term incarceration in Statesville Prison bring light to the crisis of mass incarceration and the human cost of excessive sentencing. Compelling, moving narratives from those most affected by the prison industrial complex make a compelling case that death by incarceration is cruel and unusual punishment.

Implemented in the 1990's and 2000's harsh sentencing policies, commonly labeled "tough on crime," became a bipartisan political agenda. These policies had real impacts on families and communities, particularly as they caused the removal of many non-white and poor individuals from cities like Chicago.

The Long Term brings into the light what has previously been hidden, a counter-narrative to the tough on crime agenda and an urgent plea for a more humane criminal justice system. The book is a critical contribution to the current debate around challenging the mass incarceration and ending mandatory sentencing, especially for non-violent offenders.