In Mikki Kendall’s book Hood Feminism, it is defined as the ‘reliance on policing, prosecution, and imprisonment to resolve gendered or sexual violence’. According to the author, prison feminism centres on a culture of compensation that does not prevent and, instead, ignores and justifies the atrocities of the prison system, such as torture, slavery, or rape.
This culture also ignores the way in which the prison system mainly affects racial and ethnic minorities, and disproportionately punishes marginalized groups that look to escape abuse through violence.
The plural version of this concept is also used to reflect the diversity of approaches and the heterogeneity of the members of this social movement.