Today we begin with excerpts of From The Vault #0459 - a quick montage of recordings that Pacifica Radio Recorded of Angela Davis from 1969 to The Wall Street Occupy Movement in 2011, then a longer recording of a February 23, 2015 conversation between Professor Angela Davis and the University of Southern California's Dr. Michele Turner at an event entitled Angela Davis: A Lifetime of Revolution February 23 is an important date. On this day in 1968 W.E.B Dubois' was born. It's also the day in 1972 a humble dairy farmer from Fresno California put up his farm so that Angela Davis could make bail on three felony charges that a jury would eventually return a not guilty verdict. and on this day in 2015, The University of Southern California's Black Student Assembly and Speakers Committee together with a litany of USC group cosponsors hosted American political activist, scholar, and author Angela Davis. A full house of 1500 students and educators gathered in USC's Bovard Auditorium to listen to Professor Davis trace her experiences growing up in Alabama, packing her bags to find Freedom outside the South, and realizing this was a much bigger issue than Geography. Dr. Michele Turner…

Reentry Is Hard For Exonerees Too As more and more wrongfully convicted citizens are exonerated the issue of compensation has come to the fore. In Missouri only those exonerated by DNA are eligible for compensation and it isn't automatic. Kansas recently passed a compensation law for exonerees that is still being figured out. The problem of lack of skills, work history and education plague many exonerees just as it does all formerly incarcerated citizens. There are no programs or consideration to help these citizens wronged by the Justice System. Host Latahra Smith will talk with a couple of exonerees who are trying to build a work life for themselves to support themselves, their family and reclaim their place in society. Kansas ACLU's Smart Justice Campaign The ACLU is working across the state of Kansas to educate and institute a Smart approach to justice by focusing on expanding diversion programs, reducing sentences for non-violent drug cases, improve reentry services and reform civil asset forfeiture laws. Host Craig Lubow will talk with Kiana Knolland, Smart Justice Field Organizer for the ACLU of Kansas. She will talk about her effort to galvanize Kansas communities to take action to significantly reduce mass incarceration. Website…

Brian Daldorph, Mentoring Prison Poets We replay an interview from June of 2018 Brian Daldorph has been involved with prison poetry programs at the Lawrence Jail and the Kansas Penitentiary at Lansing, KS. He is the Editor/Poetry Editor of Coal City Review, an Independent Literary Review published annually by the Coal City Review Press. The 2018 edition of the Coal City Review features the Poets of Lansing Prison. Guest Host Arlin Buyert returns to talk to Brian Daldorph about his background, how he got interested in poetry, doing poetry at the jail, why he keeps doing it and what he gets out of it. He will read some poems out of the latest issue of Coal City Review too. Website for Coal City Review - https://coalcity.org/ Brian Daldorph University of Kansas English Department Lawrence, KS 66045 How Has Juvenile Justice Reform Progressed In Kansas? In 2016 Kansas Legislature passed a bill reforming the Juvenile Justice System. Host Craig Lubow talks with Mike Fonkert of Kansas Appleseed to discuss what is still needed to achieve the reform envisioned by the Juvenile Justice Reform bill passed three year ago. They will also talk about the problems that still exist in the Kansas…

Mental Illness Behind Bars Since the 1980's when funding for community mental health centers was cut drastically the number of people in prison because of mental illness has risen steadily. Wardens and Corrections officials from state and local prisons and jails acknowledge they are ill equipped to handle those inmates that have emotional problems. More and more states and communities are funding mental health centers and mental health courts to divert people with mental disorders and drug problems from incarceration to treatment. Kansas City, Mo opened a diversion center about three years ago and Wyandotte County in Kansas has opened a mental health court. Host Latahra Smith talks with Claudia Thomas about her experiences with mentally ill inmates and efforts to meet their needs behind bars. Clemency Postcard Drive The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, accomplish their mission by providing a membership platform of technical support, complex coalition building, and comprehensive resources that assist local initiatives toward our shared goal of shifting from a criminal legal system to one based on human justice. They have a Clemency Campaign you can get involved in that they hope will allow women who are serving long sentences, in…

Ricky Kidd, The Fight For Exoneration – Advocates Outside The Courtroom The fight to win the freedom of Ricky Kidd, wrongly convicted of murder, came down to four days of evidentiary hearings in a Gallatin, MO courtroom last week. There …

The Case Of Victor Vickers Raises Questions Victor Vickers and Garron T Briggs were convicted of a 2011 home invasion, murder and shooting in what appeared to be search for drugs. The surviving victim did not initially identify Vickers, someone she knew and with whom she had gone to school. The lack of physical evidence placing Vickers at the scene and a denial of an alibi witness are being raised in appeal. Vickers is asking the Supreme Court to make a ruling that a person's innocence is more important than a rule that witnesses must be endorsed in advance of trial, and rule that a defendant should never be stopped from presenting evidence that proves his innocence. The petition was filed on February 8, 2019, and the Court will usually grant or deny review in 2-3 months. Host Keith Brown El talks with local Activist Lamar Vickers about the unanswered questions he has about the conviction of his nephew Victor Vickers JR and the question of whether an innocent person should be held because their defense didn't follow court rules to the letter. Learn more about Victor Vickers JR's fight to allow proof of innocence to set one free instead…

Can A Black Man Plead Self Defense In Jackson County? The case of Cameron Gines has raised the question of whether a black man can claim self defense in Jackson County. Cameron was attacked repeatedly at a convenience store on E 23rd St and retreated from his attacker more than once. It was not until the store owner locked the door denying Cameron an avenue of escape and he was again attacked that he drew his gun and shot his assailant. The Jackson County Prosecutor's office insisted on charging Cameron with 2nd Degree Murder and all attempts to persuade them that this was self defense were rejected (Missouri is a Stand Your Ground state). What most people do not know is that the Prosecutor's office was following the same script that had gotten them a conviction in a very similar case of self defense at the same convenience store a year earlier. Cameron has agreed to a plea bargain so that he can get out of jail and again provide for his family. Host Latahra Smith talks with talks with Cameron's Father Keith Gines about his son's case, the intransigence of the Jackson County Prosecutor and whether this Prosecutorial overreach…

Replay of - Bail Bonds, Bad Policy Jaws of Justice Radio took a look at the Bail Bond industry in December of 2018, the arguments used to support it, the unfair effects on the poor, the negative effects on the economy and local communities. We replay three interviews Jamie Jackson did with groups working to eliminate the practice. Host Jamie Jackson starts out talking with Professor Peter Edelman, Carmack Waterhouse Professor Of Law And Public Policy at the Georgetown Law Center about the myths and misconceptions used to support the Bail Bond system and how this system that is unique to the US and the Philippines is bad policy. They also talk about the mass bailout of prisoners at Rikers Island in New York City. Georgetown Law Center website – https://www.law.georgetown.edu/ Next Jamie returns with an interview with Cherise Fanne Burdee, Executive Director of the Pretrial Justice Institute about their efforts to educate about the bail bond industry and support efforts in communities across the nation to reform or eliminate the bail bond system. Pretrial Justice Institute website – https://www.pretrial.org/ Then Jamie talks with Michael John Voss, cofounder of the ArchCity Defenders in St Louis, MO about the successes fighting…

Is The 1988 Fire Fighters Case Really Solved? In the early hours of a late November day in 1988 KCMO Firefighters were called to the scene of a PU truck fire at a construction site in South Kansas City. While they were putting out the truck fire the noticed a second fire across the street at the construction site for the south leg of the Bruce Watkins drive. An arson fire had been set under a couple trailers on the site. The trailers were not marked and the Firefighters did not know that the trailers contained explosives used for blasting the rock to make way for the highway. The Explosion rocked the whole metro area and instantly killed six firefighters from Firehouse 41. The investigation into who set the fire took many turns and there was not evidence to charge anyone for almost 8 years. Five neighborhood residents that had initially been ruled out were indicted and convicted after a national TV show took up the case. The convictions and the persistent claims of innocence by the five men has been almost as explosive as the incident itself. There have been numerous articles and even a documentary film or two…

David Robinson, Charges Dropped After 18 Years of Incarceration On May 14, 2018 David Robinson was released after almost 18 years in the MO Corrections System. He had been wrongfully convicted and in the release order from the MO Supreme Court they agreed that Robinson had met his burden of proof and established what's known as a "gateway" claim of innocence after proving his constitutional rights were violated during his trial. This ruling is significant for a number of other wrongfully convicted citizens still being held by the state of Missouri, many of them that have also proven their innocence in court but are being held on technicalities. Host Latahra Smith talks with David Robinson about his case of wrongful conviction, the court ruling that set him free and its significance for others such as Ricky Kidd and Keith Carnes. KFVS article - http://www.kfvs12.com/story/38087260/sikeston-mo-man-released-charges-dismissed-nearly-18-years-after-murder-conviction/?fbclid=IwAR0q13mjir0JVIHRKuPs-Xn6Cy9u7FOECVnYIqtqjOc4NZw25IiSL7sNq9E The Deprived: Innocent On Death Row by Steffan Hou The book, The Deprived: Innocent On Death Row tells the stories of innocent Americans sentenced to death, examines the flawed investigations and myopic prosecutions of the murders and whether it is possible to restore life after being wrongfully incarcerated for decades. Steffan Hou takes a look at…