20 44

In the early 2020s a paradigm shift took place, leading to the era of post-prison. The prison system and its structures represented a hurdle to overcome many problems in our society. This turnaround in society was enabled by the media and politics: they overcame the urge to underpin the image of the prison as a guarantor of security and a place of evil. The prison system represented a node of our most relevant structural social problems, such as racism, discrimination, class struggle, violence, and hierarchy. There is no place for such a system in a society that strives for justice, equality, and freedom.

A lot has happened since then.

Today in 2044, many accomplishments can be pointed out on the way to a better future. Although many issues in our society are still unsettled, the groundwork has been laid for a world of equality and humanity, especially in dealing with crime. Structures in society have been called into question and positively altered, or even reconstructed, by shifts in the core: Prisons do no longer exist. The concept of punishment has vanished. It had to be realized that a better whole can never be achieved with vengeance. Thus, the prison, which arose from the principle of punishment, could not be continued as a social construct.