Tag: Rattling the Bars

Caryn York, executive director of the Job Opportunities Task Force and Nicole Hanson, director of Out for Justice, talk about why black girls are punished more harshly  than any other demographic and are the largest…

Activists and students continue a national divestment movement to stop the corporate funding of private prisons. Sylvester Owino, a Kenyan immigrant, spent 10 years in an immigrant detention center while his case bounced between the…

TRNN’s Eddie Conway tracks prison uprisings and discusses how these protests could pave the way for radical change in mass incarceration. Producer: Ericka Blount Danois Director/Video Editor: Cameron Granadino Subscribe to our page and support…

The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice—whose mission is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the justice system—reports that the rate of COVID cases in federal and state prisons is more than four…

Until recently, the horrifyingly unjust reality of America’s mass incarceration system has not been a central concern in popular political discourse. In the past few years, however, more people have learned about the brutality and…

After Gov. Ned Lamont signed a new bill into law in June, Connecticut became the first state in the US to make phone calls free for incarcerated people, including those in juvenile detention facilities. Studies…

President Joe Biden signed a major $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that provided funds to cities and states around the country to recover from devastating effects of the pandemic. Regardless of widespread condemnation and criticism,…

COVID-19 turned what were already inhumane conditions at Rikers Island, New York’s most notorious jail, into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Prisoners, activists, and legal advocates are demanding it be closed for good. For years, prisoners,…

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…

Eric King is an antifascist, antiracist, anarchist activist who is currently serving a 10-year federal prison sentence for throwing Molotov cocktails into an empty government office in Kansas City, Missouri, in solidarity with the 2014…

After 36 years behind bars as a political prisoner, Mutulu Shakur is on his deathbed. The movement elder, healer, and radical Black freedom fighter was diagnosed with stage 3 bone marrow cancer in June of…

“At least 40% of people incarcerated in American women’s prisons identify somewhere under the broad lesbian-bisexual-trans-queer umbrella—a shocking statistic that holds true when looking at detention centers for youths as well,” historian Hugh Ryan recently…

TRNN contributor Michael Sainato returns to ‘Rattling the Bars’ to discuss the system-wide strike in Alabama’s state prisons. The strike is focused on both improving the living conditions of prisoners and demanding changes to Alabama’s…

Read the transcript of this video: https://therealnews.com/booming-rural-county-jails-are-now-the-main-driver-of-mass-incarceration-study-says Stephen Janis and Taya Graham of Police Accountability Report join Rattling the Bars to discuss a new report from the Vera Institute on the boom in rural jails….

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…

After being wrongfully incarcerated at the age of 19, Lacino Hamilton fought to free himself through journalism, and by educating himself and his fellow prisoners.  Lacino Hamilton is a writer, thinker, and activist who…

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…

Now 20, Manasra has spent a third of his life in prison. A hearing on Aug. 16 will determine whether to release him from seven months of solitary confinement. Rattling the Bars co-host Mansa Musa…

Cases of cholera have been confirmed at Haiti’s National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. Cholera, which spreads through unsanitary water, has become endemic in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, and is believed to have been inadvertently introduced…

In 2020, at least 23 people died at San Quentin State Prison in California due to COVID-19. Two years later, COVID-19 remains a clear and present threat to incarcerated people, despite California’s attempts to implement…

Jericho Movement activists fighting for the release of freedom fighters from US prisons speak on the meaning and purpose of Black August. Jihad Abdulmumit is the Chairperson of the National Jericho Movement. Paulette Dauteuil is…