Kite Line

For our episode this week, we share the second of a two-part conversation between Nicole Fleetwood and Micol Seigel. Fleetwood’s recent book, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, is a wide-ranging exploration of visual art made by people in prison.

Fleetwood explains “I started working on this book as a way to deal with the grief about so many of my relatives, neighbors, and childhood friends who were spending years, decades, or life sentences in prison. It was also an effort to connect with others who are separated from their loved ones by prisons, parole, policed streets, and other forms of institutional and quotidian violence.”

In their conversation, they talk about the role of photography within the carceral system, which Fleetwood describes as the “punitive image of the State”. This emphasizes the negative dimension of photography, especially the role of mugshots and its history of racist and repressive uses against marginalized people. But Fleetwood also speaks to its positive pole, which includes sharing photographs with loved ones who are inside.

In this episode, we mention a video of a prison guard beating a prisoner. You can view this video here. Please note this video contains physical violence.

Fight Toxic Prisons has asked for supporters to call the New Orleans ICE office and demand that immigrant detention centers take necessary precautions as Tropical Storm Ida bears down on Louisiana. Last year, detainees were left stranded without food, water or medicine. New Orleans ICE can be reached at (504) 599-7800

We end the episode with an excerpt from an interview with George Jackson. You can listen to the full interview here.

You can read the call for support from Fight Toxic Prisons here.

You can listen to the first part of the conversation between Nicole and Micol here.

We start out by sharing a statement from Jailhouse Lawyers Speak about the Shut ‘Em Down campaign, scheduled for August 21st and September 9th, historic days for Black struggle inside and against prison.

Afterwards, we share the first of a two-part conversation between Nicole Fleetwood and Micol Seigel. Fleetwood’s recent book, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, is an exploration of visual art made by people in prison.

Fleetwood says, “I started working on this book as a way to deal with the grief about so many of my relatives, neighbors, and childhood friends who were spending years, decades, or life sentences in prison. It was also an effort to connect with others who are separated from their loved ones by prisons, parole, policed streets, and other forms of institutional and quotidian violence.”

After a brief hiatus, we are happy to report that our prisoner call-in phone line is back. Folks on the inside, or their outside friends and supporters can call (765) 343-6236 to record a message to be played on the air. Please share the number widely, and we will try to answer and air all messages possible.

This week, we share urgent messages – kites – sent by a range of people caught up in the prison system.  It’s important to listen for the voices of prisoners, whether it’s the hunger strike declaration by a longterm inside organizer like Shaka Shakur, Jessica Reznicek’s reflections as she is about to enter prison as an unrepentant water protector, or Flexxboi Diggy’s creatively writing raps from inside an Indiana county jail.  If one of the ways prison functions is by isolating people and silencing their voices, we can instead work to amplify those voices, and link the struggles they are speaking from.

We are also sharing the monthly round-up on prisoner resistance generously contributed by Perilous Chronicle.

See Shaka’s statement at IDOC Watch.

More information on Jessica’s case available her support website.  The full version of Jessica’s interview can be found here.

Listen to more of Flexxboi Diggy’s music at his Soundcloud.

This week, we return to our conversation with David Campbell, a former antifacist political prisoner from New York. In this episode, Campbell continues to talk about his time on Rikers Island, this time focusing on jobs and other ways that people pass the time inside- sleeping, video games, visits, and how the tedium of incarceration can fuel addiction. Campbell ends by talking about his experiences with relationship building during and after incarceration.

You can check out previous episodes with David Campbell here, here, and here.

This week, we are highlighting two experiences of outside solidarity with prisoners.  First, we share audio from last week’s rally in Indianapolis for clemency, including a recorded statement by Leon Benson, a longtime imprisoned organizer, as well as a speech by his son, Leon Bluitt, about the impact of growing up with an incarcerated parent.

After that, we feature an interview with Danielle Chanzes, one of three people arrested on felony charges after a solidarity demo outside Florida State Prison last December.  The protest was responding to prisoners demanding improved COVID safety measures amid miserable conditions and was also a memorial for Karen Smith, a dynamic abolitionist organizer and previous Kite Line contributor who passed away last year.  Danielle took her charges to trial and won last week, and today she explains the importance of her fight in the context of a generalized drive to repress protest in Florida and across the US.

You can find our interviews with Karen Smith, along with our coverage of Leon Benson by searching for them on our new website: kitelineradio.org

This week on Kite Line, we continue our conversation with prison abolitionist journalists Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law. We share the second half 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 for incarceration, but which, in many cases, bring surveillance into our homes and communities.

The alternatives mentioned in our discussion last week – electronic monitoring, probation, court mandated psychiatric confinement or Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOTS), and the sex offender registry – are just a few of the methods they analyze. For instance, “community policing” often means over-policing neighborhoods that are predominately inhabited by people of color, leading to rising arrests and police harassment. This week, they talk about issues with child protective services, community policing, school resource officers, and tell us of possible abolitionist horizons.

In this episode we mention Isaiah Willoughby, who was arrested and federally charged with one count of arson in connection to a fire at the Seattle Police Department East Precinct.

You can write letters to him at:

Isaiah Willoughby #49960-086

You can hear the first part of the conversation with Law and Schenwar here.

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 for incarceration, but which, in many cases, bring surveillance into our homes and communities. The alternatives mentioned in our discussion today – electronic monitoring, probation, court mandated psychiatric confinement or Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOTS), and the sex offender registry – are just a few of the methods critiques in their book.

Law has been on the show before, and you can hear her talk about women’s resistance within prisons here, and on a panel about carceral feminism here.

This 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 “New Residential Schools” written by Abby Stadnyk.  This agitation is particularly striking as we approach Black August and the broad calls for “Shut ‘Em Down” protests on August 21st and September 9th.

Afterwards, we have more from David Campbell, former anitfacist political prisoner, who recently did a year on Rikers Island. In this segment, he continues to talk about “sticking it up”- the various ways that prisoners resist their confinement. In his case, they had to strike in order to get masks and cleaning supplies to help protect them as COVID-19 spread throughout the facility. Last week, he told us about conditions on Rikers, and the lead up to their strike. In this segment, he starts out with the aftermath of the strike and how things changed once they finally received media attention.

You can read the entire article by Stadnyk here.

This 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 some Trump supporters in NYC. In our segment today, he spells out some of the ways doing a long stint in jail is different than one in prison, and also about what it was like to organize in prison during COVID-19. We will continue to air our conversation with David next week.

David wrote an article with the same name for Hard Crackers Magazine, which you can read here.

You can hear our previous episode with David here.

Our 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 by Abby Stadnyk, with contributions from Cory in his own words, this episode focuses on both his life and organizing, and how the system he struggled within ultimately killed him.

Thanks to Abby, Perilous Chronicle, and to all who contributed their words to the show. You can find previous episodes with Cory here, here, here, here and here.

You can read the full piece by Stadnyk, along with photos and links:

In Memoriam: Cory Charles Cardinal (1983-2021)