Tag: prisons
Prisons are an environmental catastrophe
Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/the-prison-industrial-complex-is-an-environmental-catastrophe “As a result of being on or near wastelands, prisons constantly expose those inside to serious environmental hazards, from tainted water to harmful air pollutants,” Leah Wang recently…
It’s 110 degrees in Texas prisons. Is this a human rights violation? – Rattling the Bars
Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/without-a-c-texas-prisons-are-reaching-110-degrees Prisoners are on the front lines of climate crises of every type. Heat waves can be especially dangerous for incarcerated people, particularly in prisons that lack proper air…
NY prisons ban care packages containing food
The prison-industrial complex has many ways of turning the incarceration of human beings into a profitable business model. In New York state, new regulations targeting care packages for prisoners show this logic at work. Friends…
Chris Hedges on trauma & teaching writing in prison
Since 2013, Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and host of The Chris Hedges Report, has taught college courses in drama, literature, philosophy, and history at East Jersey State Prison (aka “Rahway”) and other New Jersey…
Keeping incarcerated mothers and their families together
As Wendy Sawyer and Wanda Bertram recently wrote for the Prison Policy Initiative, “Over half (58%) of all women in US prisons are mothers, as are 80% of women in jails, including many who are…
Rattling the Bars: Susanville, California, prison ordered to close by judge
A judge has ruled a Susanville, California, prison to close, ending a drawn-out legal battle between the town, the state government, and advocates. Brian Kaneda, Shakeer Rahman, and General Dogan join Mansa Musa to explain…
Rattling the Bars: Repurposing prisons can revitalize rural America
The economic fortunes of rural communities across the United States are often deeply intertwined with the prison industrial complex. This poses a real challenge to the project of ending mass incarceration. How can organizers build…
Rattling the Bars: Unions must stand up for prisoners
Prisoners today are fighting the same labor conditions behind bars that birthed the union movement in the 19th Century. US labor journalist and Real News contributor Michael Sainato joins Rattling the Bars to discuss why…
Meet the women fighting Nevada’s prison system | Rattling the Bars
Return Strong Executive Director Jodi Hocking and Community Organizer Ashley Gaddis join Rattling the Bars to discuss the fight against mass incarceration in Nevada. Return Strong website: https://www.returnstrongnv.org/ Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars…
Rattling the Bars: It’s not a ‘migration crisis’—it’s imperialism
In his new memoir and first book, Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas, journalist Roberto Lovato traces the long history of colonial violence in El Salvador through the story…
Rikers Island’s Deadliest Year with Olayemi Olurin | Rattling the Bars
Editor’s note: This interview was filmed on Dec. 1, 2022. A 19th person, Edgardo Mejia, died at Rikers on Sunday, Dec. 11. 19 people died on Rikers Island in 2022, making this the deadliest year…
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…
‘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…
Cash bail is an abomination of justice | Rattling the Bars
While the underlying logic of the cash bail system in the US may sound convincing on paper, in practice it has become a means of denying justice to, and destroying the lives of, people who…
Why incarcerated people’s perspectives matter w/Da’Shaun Harrison | Rattling the Bars
The call for prison abolition has been popularized over the last decade of popular movements against police violence, many of which have operated under the banner of Black Lives Matter. But what does abolition mean,…
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…
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…
