Rachael Dziaba is a recipient of a 2025 CAPS Undergraduate Summer Thesis Research Grant. Rachael’s proposed thesis is entitled, “The Workhouse: A Study of Prison Abolition.”
Proposal synopsis: My thesis will examine the movement to close the Workhouse prison in St. Louis after over a century and a half in existence. My project seeks to interrogate contemporary theories of mass incarceration and prison abolition through a case study of the Workhouse where I will aim to answer the following questions: (1) How did the prison become established and subsequently normalized in St. Louis life? (2) How did public sentiments then shift to allow abolition – at least on the scale of closing one prison – to be possible after a short four years of campaigning?