Kite Line

This week, share an update sent to us from Michelle Freeman about her husband, Vernell. Michelle’s impassioned plea on behalf of her partner is both urgent and inspiring, and we will continue to air messages from her in the future, as Vernell’s situation evolves. You can hear our episode about Vernell here.

Afterwards, we speak to two people from Florida Prisoner Solidarity, who detail the methods of retaliation and silencing that the Florida Department of Corrections has been deploying against prisoners and outside supporters. This includes the disappearance of several inmates in the Florida prison system, new laws directed against outside advocates, the implementation of new and brutal “pandemic safe” weapons that allow COs to harm prisoners without touching them, and more. Many of these tactics are being used to punish prisoners for self-organizing to stay safe during the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, as well as a method of retaliating against prisoners who are in contact with organizations like theirs.

We will air more from them about the state’s prisoner retaliation during the pandemic in next week’s episode.

This week, we return to stories of electronic monitoring also known as e-carceration. Micol Seigel talks to Cody, who says he spent about half his life locked up. He’s 26 now, and spent time in Pendleton Correctional Facility and Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, both in Indiana. He tells Seigel first hand about e-carcerations disruptions to work, financial, and family life.

He talks about the new ankle bracelet he has to wear, which he describes as the size of a soda can, and also the traps used by the system to return people to incarceration based on technical violations, and the consistent confusion on both sides of  e-carceration regarding how the process actually works.

His story shows us some of the challenges facing those who get released, including burdens on household members, untenable accumulation of fines, and more.

Special thanks to Perilous Chronicle- you can learn more about their work at perilouschronicle.com

After news, we share a conversation between Christina and Leslie about their experiences obtaining an education while in prison. Both women reflect on the barriers to getting a degree on the inside, and how effective the degree was in helping them once they got out. They also talk about some of the differences in educational options between male and female facilities.

These interviews with formerly incarcerated people on the barriers they face in obtaining an education was made possible by a grant from the Lumina Foundation.

This week, we are airing two kites- the first from a woman advocating for her brother, Billie Allen, who is on death row here in Indiana, despite his fight to prove his innocence. We will talk to Yvette more in the coming weeks, but in this conversation, she introduces us to her brother’s case, and talks more generally about death row’s impending executions.

We then follow with a piece, recorded from the inside, from Shaka Shakur. A former Indiana prisoner, Shaka was recently moved to Virginia, an example of interstate transfer, which is a problem you might recall from Malik Washington’s recent interview. We’ve shared Shaka’s story in a previous episode of Kite Line, along with some of his writings. In this episode, he shares his essay entitled. The Concept and Practice of Dual Power, in which he shares his vision for a successful anti-prison movement.

You can hear our episode about Shaka Shakur here.

You can hear our episode about the history of the death penalty here.

You can hear Malik Washington talk about interstate transfers here.

This week, we are talking about youth in detention. We are laying the groundwork to continue to talk to current prisoners who were placed in facilities while young, including people who are still locked up to this day, about how the impact of incarceration since childhood has shaped them into adulthood.

We start with an impassioned piece reflecting on the recent deaths of adolescents in two different states- Cornelius Frederick’s death at a youth facility in Michigan, and Gynnya McMillen in Kentucky. Following that, we share a conversation we had with Heather D’Aoust, who is incarcerated in California. She’s been inside since she was a teen and talks about navigating this difficult terrain inside from a young age.

We’d like to issue a content warning regarding violence against children, self-harm, and abuse.

This week on Kite Line, we share a call from a prisoner located in Seattle, who exposes his facility’s careless treatment of prisoners in the face of COVID-19, and how medical isolation and punitive isolation function similarly.

Afterwards, we finish our conversation with Keith Malik Washington. Malik was recently released from prison after many years, and has been telling us about life on the outside- and the importance of supporting those still behind prison walls. He talks about his comrade, Kevin Rashid Johnson, and the way that the prison system has used the interstate compact agreement to transfer Rashid to many facilities in several states as a form retaliation for exposing inhumane prison conditions. Malik also describes the consistent punishment he faced due to his advocacy for fellow prisoners.

You can find links to our previous episodes with Malik here, and here.

We encourage you to support the project Malik mentions in his interview, the San Francisco Bay View.

We begin this week with a short piece by WFHB reporter Aaron Comforty, who reports on an alleged instance of attempted suicide in the local jail, and one mother’s attempts to find out the status of her son. We also speak with Ted Smith, an Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Louisville who tells us about a new study his time is working on- testing wastewater from prisons in an effort to track potential coronavirus outbreaks.

Lastly, we return to our conversation with Malik Washington, recently released from prison after many years. In last week’s episode, he spoke about his own experiences inside, but began talking about the current plight of a close comrade who remains inside, Kevin Rashid Johnson. This week, he continues to advocate on Rashid’s behalf, as well as another Indiana prisoner, Kwame Shakur, and speaks to the importance of supporting prisoners. We will have more from Malik next week.

Music for this episode is excerpted from Kwame Shakur’s song, Letter to Boosie. You can hear the full song here.

After this week’s news and updates, Kite Line sits down with Keith Malik Washington, who was released from prison last month. We’ve shared many of Washington’s essays and audio dispatches over the years, as he exposed the ongoing injustices and hazards he faced alongside others behind the prison walls.  Even though Washington is now on the outside, he spends much of his time advocating for his comrades who are still inside, such as Kwame Shakur and Kevin Rashid Johnson.

You can see Washington’s post on FB about Kevin Rashid Johnson here.

You can see more from the folks at Perilous Chronicle here.

This week, we hear from Michelle Freeman, who describes the horrifying conditions in which her husband, Vernell Freeman, is being held in Miami Correctional Facility, here in Indiana. Speaking on behalf of her partner, Michelle tells Kite Line about the repeated incidents of medical neglect and retaliatory violence Vernell has been subjected to within the prison. We also have updates on the situation of west coast prisoners, who are suffering from their own crises of medical and housing neglect amid the wildfires and evacuations in Oregon and elsewhere.

You can see more about the call-in campaign for Vernell here.