This week, we brought together three segments that focus on ways the system attempts to repress participants in collective struggles and those who fight for a better world.

In a segment that originally aired on KPFA, we hear about the punitive measures Malik Washington is facing after speaking out about the COVID-19 outbreak in a Geo Group run halfway house.

We air audio from Cory Cardinal, an Indigenous activist imprisoned at the Saskatoon Correctional Center in Saskatchewan, Canada. Cory spoke with Perilous Chronicle editor Ryan Fatica earlier this week, and says that this week he was sent to solitary confinement after he organized a protest at the prison. The protest involved collecting and sending out more than a dozen testimonies from prisoners about their experiences with COVID-19 at the facility.

Cory also expressed his solidarity with Kimberly Squirrel, a 34-year-old Native woman and mother of 6 who froze to death in January just 3 days after being released from Pine Grove Correctional Centre, near Prince Albert.

We also share the first part of a conversation about a North Dakota activist who was released Monday after ­­nearly 3 weeks in jail for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury. Steve Martinez, an Indigenous and Chicano activist who participated in the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota in 2016, was held in the Burleigh County Detention Center in Bismark, North Dakota on charges of civil contempt of court for his refusal.

In order to learn more about Steve’s situation, Perilous Chronicle editor Ryan Fatica spoke with Lauren Regan, Lead Attorney and Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Oregon who has spent many years of her life dedicated to defending those facing charges for their participation social movements. Our segment this week focuses primarily on another water protector, Sophia Wilansky. Lauren is representing Wilansky, a Standing Rock protestor who is suing law enforcement for injuries she sustained during a protest on the Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock in 2016 and has been following the grand jury proceedings closely. This interview was recorded last week before Steve was released from jail. Although Steve is now free, his challenges are far from over.

Look for updates on Steve’s case from the Water Protector Legal Collective at waterprotectorlegal.org and from Perilous Chronicle at  Perilouschronicle.com

You can learn more about Kimberly Squirrel and find a link to donate to the Inmates for Humane Conditions fundraiser here.