This week, we start in on the topic of Are Prisons Obsolete Over the next couple of Kite Line episodes, we will be sharing the words and writings of prisoners- many of whom have been featured on previous episodes- and their responses to Angela Davis’s book, “Are Prisons Obsolete” For context, the Abolition Study Sessions are a…
Read MoreWe begin this week with a letter from a prisoner at Pendleton Correctional Facility. He writes about the educational programs available in the prison. He works through some of the problems prisoners encounter when trying to get a meaningful vocational training or degree on the inside. And then, we hear more from Abu Faheem Shabaz,…
Read MoreThis week we share the first of two episodes on Jay Smith’s story, also known as Abu Faheem Shabaz, who was recently released from the Indiana Department of Corrections after spending years inside. As he states, Shabaz was part of the carceral system since childhood, and he describes coming of age within the walls of…
Read MoreThis week is focused on words from prisoners sent or smuggled from inside. From the jail in Evansville, Indiana, to letters from participants in Operation PUSH- the still-ongoing prison strike across the Florida department of corrections- to a collection of poems from our local jail, prisoners are finding ways to share their individual experiences and…
Read MoreThis episode, we start out with a statement from Anastazia Schmid, a prisoner in the Indiana Women’s Prison. She walks us through a brief history of how prisons, and specifically the modern practice of prison slave labor, came about. She also talks through some basics of how prison serves to isolate those on the inside,…
Read MoreIn this week’s episode, we hear from Valerie Buford, the sister of Leon Benson, a prisoner here in Indiana. Valerie talks about the circumstances that lead to Leon being imprisoned on a murder charge since 1998. Through her story, you can hear how difficult it is to navigate the legal system, especially with few financial…
Read MoreThis week features our second segment on PREA- the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Last week, we heard from Irene, who is being held in the Indiana Women’s Prison. She described her run-ins with PREA, leading to a broader analysis of the failure of prison bureaucracies to meaningfully respond to real abuse. At the same time,…
Read MoreThis episode is the start of our conversation about PREA, the Prison Rape Elimination Act. PREA was passed in 2003 with unanimous support from both parties in Congress. The purpose of the act was to “provide for the analysis of the incidence and effects of prison rape in Federal, State, and local institutions and to…
Read MoreIn Wabash Valley, Shaka Shakur is maintaining his hunger strike, demanding an end to guard abuses and the isolation of active prisoners in camera cells. We spoke with his wife, Akili Shakur, who provided context for the struggle undertaken by Shaka and other prisoners, along with background on his imprisonment and the role of guards…
Read MoreLast April, the Indiana Department of Corrections banned all correspondence to it’s 25,000 prisoners, except that which is handwritten on lined white paper. The official explanation is that this is an attempt to block trafficking of synthetic marijuana which can be applied to paper. But many prisoners and advocates have pointed to a long series…
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