This week on Kite Line, we speak with prison abolitionist journalists Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law. We share the first part of our discussion on their recent book, Prison by Any Other Name: Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms. The book is an in-depth look at the various “alternatives to prison” that are held up as substitutes…
Read MoreThis week, amid a spate of prisoners’ strikes, we share our monthly round up of prison disturbances for June 2021, compiled by Perilous Chronicle. Prisoners are hunger striking across the continent, agitating for safer conditions, and pushing back against labor exploitation. We share an excerpt of the story entitled Prisoners Strike Against Racism and Colonialism in Canada’s…
Read MoreThis week, we continue talking to David Campbell, former anti-fascist political prisoner who recently did a year on Rikers Island. In our last conversation with David, he discussed the circumstances of how he ended up in the Rikers facility- the short of it being that he was sentenced to his time after a fight with…
Read MoreOur episode this week is a memorial to Cory Cardinal. Regular listeners will remember Cory as the organizer of the recent hunger strikes in Saskatoon Correctional and as a past contributor to Kite Line. An inspiration to many and a tireless advocate on behalf of incarcerated people, Cory passed away earlier this month. Written and…
Read MoreThis week, Kite Line shares hard-earned lessons based on experiences of struggle on both sides of the prison walls. Perilous Chronicle’s Ryan Fatica returns with Lauren Regan from the Civil Liberties Defense Center, who has guidelines for protestors. IDOC Watch discuss their campaign for mass clemency in Indiana. Malik Washington talks about getting off paper…
Read MoreOur show this week returns to June 11th, the international day of solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners. The focus of June 11th is overcoming the isolation that these long-term prisoners face, as the movements they participated in years ago give way to new struggles and new generations of radicals. The day of solidarity works to…
Read MoreWe start off this week’s show with a roundup of prison disturbances compiled by Perilous Chronicle. Afterwards, we speak with Lauren Regan, the Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center. Regan has been on the show before to discuss state repression and her efforts to support people facing political charges. She returns today to…
Read MoreThis week, we hear from Koby Bluitt, daughter of Leon Benson, a long time Indiana prisoner and organizer. She tells us about Leon, their relationship, and her current efforts to help him get free. We’ve covered Leon’s case on Kite Line before: a case of poor eyewitness testimony that helped convict the man of a…
Read MoreThis week, we share two stories from people reflecting on their time inside and on re-entry. Both have wise words about surviving incarceration, and the overall political context of prisons. First is David Campbell, a former political prisoner at Rikers Island in New York. We will hear more from David later, but in this episode,…
Read MoreLast week, we heard from Kim, Shari, Lauren, Pablo and Brian about Parole Illinois, a group fighting to reinstate, as they put it, “earned discretionary reentry”. This is the last of a two-part conversation with them. In 1978, Illinois abolished discretionary parole system. Today, it remains one of just sixteen states (plus the District of…
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