FOCUS
In the pursuit of abolishing prisons, Alexis studies prisons, penal policy, and punishment, especially those issues which affect gender and sexual minority (GSM) populations. Her work explores the ways in which penal institutions influence hegemonic perceptions of minority groups, and in turn, how they contribute to social and material inequality. The goal of her studies is to produce knowledge that invites a diversity of communities and public institutions to support GSM people in their struggle—documenting the ways in which policy contributes to the population’s ongoing public health crises—and foster collaborative, community-based systems intended to mitigate current harms and prevent future ones.
MORE ABOUT ALEXIS
As a queer woman, organizer, and former mental health counselor serving incarcerated peoples, Alexis has insight into the legal and social constraints that sustain inequality and antiqueer violence. Those experiences inform her research, which she hopes will empower communities to improve the material and social conditions of their most vulnerable.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — FALL 2024
A History of Broken Toilets: A Genealogy of Jails, Juries, and Carceral Thought in California (1851-2022)
This study examines the development of county jails in California and how Californians have thought about them since the state’s ratification. By producing knowledge on the role of ideology in the production of the modern carceral landscape, this project questions how jailing came to be understood as a “necessary evil” and imagines alternative futures.
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