Tag: prison industrial complex
A tribute to the revolutionary life of Marshall ‘Eddie’ Conway | Rattling the Bars
Eddie Conway, former Baltimore Black Panther, 44-year political prisoner, and host of Rattling the Bars passed away on Feb. 13, 2023. Eddie’s family and coworkers reflect on his life and example. Production: Cameron Granadino Read…
‘The Road to Damascus’ confronts white supremacy with theater | Rattling the Bars
The new one-woman play ‘The Road to Damascus’ reinterprets the biblical story of Saul and the tale of Little Red Riding Hood as an allegory for white complicity in the US prison system and the…
US Sentencing Commission could act to reduce prison time for thousands | RTB
On April 27, 2023, the United States Sentencing Commission submitted to Congress amendments to the federal sentencing guidelines that would recommend lower sentences for certain defendants. If these changes are applied retroactively, some 18,775 people…
‘What is Juneteenth to the incarcerated Black person?’ | Rattling the Bars
Juneteenth has become a federal holiday—yet prison slavery under the 13th Amendment continues. Uprooting the prison industrial complex is vital to completing the abolition of slavery. In California, the Californians United for a Responsible Budget…
These former prisoners are fighting mass incarceration | Rattling the Bars
*Editor’s note: At 00:56, host Mansa Musa misspeaks when quoting a report and says that 55 million people are in the system of mass incarceration; the correct number is 5.5 million. Over 1.9 million people…
Addiction and prison in Alaska | Rattling the Bars
Mass incarceration as we know it today owes much of its existence to the political rationale created by the War on Drugs. Although proffered as a solution to the public health crisis of drug addiction,…
Who was George Jackson? America’s prophetic revolutionary | Rattling the Bars
At the age of 18, George Jackson was condemned to a prison sentence of one year to life for the alleged robbery of $70 from a Los Angeles gas station. Jackson spent the remainder of…
Ed Poindexter—Black Panther imprisoned for 52 years | Rattling the Bars
After 52 years of incarceration, Edward Alan Poindexter is among the longest serving political prisoners in US and world history. Originally part of the “Omaha Two,” Poindexter and Mondo we Langa, both leaders of the…
Alabama’s ‘astonishingly cruel,’ untested plan to kill Kenneth Smith | Rattling the Bars
While the death penalty has been abolished in 23 states and Washington, DC, other states are doubling down on the barbaric practice of capital punishment. Idaho wants to bring back firing squads, and now the…
Juvenile sentencing in the US is barbaric, racist, and ineffective | Rattling the Bars
“The United States is the only country in the world that permits youth to be sentenced to life without parole,” the Juvenile Law Center notes. “Sentencing children to die in prison is condemned by international…
The dark side of El Salvador’s ‘gang crackdown’ w/Michael Fox | Rattling the Bars
El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele has now suspended the rule of law in his country for 18 months, during which time more than 70,000 people have been rounded up and imprisoned without trial in the naming…
