Prisons seem to be a feature of all modern authoritarian systems. Gulags in the former Soviet Union were known for separating people from their communities and shipping them to remote areas of the territory. They were famously described as an archipelago due to their isolation from Soviet society and their island-like separation from each other. While Siberian labor camps existed under the Russian Empire, they were expanded under Stalin’s regime to be the primary form of punishment for political dissent. Their purpose has been adapted and enlarged under the Russian Federation with the introduction of western market reforms. Along with ‘free-market’ changes, prisons in population centers were revitalized and now operate in tandem with Siberian work camps as a single Federal Penitentiary Service.

The state of California holds more people captive than the Soviet Union at its most oppressive, and holds an even larger portion of the population. Over half of California prisons and 80% of prisoners are located more than 50 miles from major population areas, often in places called ‘prison towns’ where the biggest employer is the CDCR. These modern gulags are designed to sever the ties between incarcerated people and their communities, and impose exorbitant costs on families of the victims to maintain proximity. People are shuttled between these remote prisons to undermine friendships and alliances they form inside prison communities, with the intention to undermine political organization within prisons.

The prison system is structural to capitalism, and a testament to its authoritarian nature. If prisons and police were abolished, capitalism would collapse like a building under demolition. Prison is a load bearing structure in the pyramid of all authoritarian systems.