the Summer of 1964 gave rise to the groundwork of mass incarceration today #historicalcontext
— Ethnic Studies 181AC (@PIC_Abolition) May 9, 2014

Long, hot summers provided the ideal metaphorical and physical conditions for protest, and eventually riot. In Philadelphia, Harlem, and other major urban centers of America, people took to the streets. These mass gatherings would coincide with a shift in punitive policy from a rehabilitative model to a barebones, inherently violent structure.