Kite Line

This week, Bella Bravo speaks to Zhandarka Kurti and Jarrod Shanahan. Kurti is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Tennesee in Knoxville, and also works with Face to Face Knox, a campaign to restore in-person visitation to Knox County detention centers.  Shanahan is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Governors State University.

They have collaborated on a number of projects dealing with class, the racial order in America, and abolition, including a recent article in the Brooklyn Rail, Prelude to a Hot American Summer, about the George Floyd Uprising. Today, we share the first part of their conversation about the current movement, its relationship to the Black Lives Matter movement of previous years, and the limits of the demand to defund the police.

This week marks our 4-year anniversary, and we would like to thank all those who have contributed their stories, labor, and expertise to Kite Line, making it possible to air news and experiences of incarceration for 211 consecutive episodes. Thank you!

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In this episode, we share news from a major prison riot in Georgia, before airing the final part of Kristina Byers and Anastazia Schmid’s conversation on education in prison. In this segment, we learn more about the biases incarcerated people face while attempting to secure a degree. In a system rife with obstacles preventing prisoners from achieving their goals, Schmid describes applying for an advanced degree while in prison, and how even “radical” academic institutions still discriminate against those who have been convicted of felonies. Schmid overturned her wrongful conviction in 2019, and was freed after nearly two decades inside. You can hear previous stories with Anastazia on our website’s archive- but you can find the previous episodes from this conversation here, and here.

These interviews on barriers to higher education were made possible by the Lumina Foundation.

And please keep calling into our coronavirus hotline with information about COVID-19 conditions in prisons and jails: (765) 343-6236.

This week, we share the voices of three prisoners in Florida. Choosing to speak anonymously due to repression, they told us about horrible conditions inside the Florida prison system. They explain the racial injustice in the prison system, the importance of letting lifers out, the prevalence of moldy, rancid food, poor hygiene in the face of COVID-19, rats and cockroaches in their cells, inadequate health care, and the lack of a working grievance system that leaves prisoners to fend for themselves.

Additionally, we’ve received reports that people imprisoned at Dekalb County Jail in Georgia have tested positive for COVID-19. They say jail staff are not taking appropriate measures to protect the people inside and they’re scared for their lives. Their loved ones say you can call (404) 298-8100- the Dekalb County Sherriff’s Office, and demand the following:

1- Put everyone on bondable release, effective immediately.

2- Test everyone in the jail for COVID-19.

3- Release those inmates who test positive for COVID-19.

4- Restore all access to phone and video visits.

We return this week to the second part of the conversation between Kristina Byers and Anastazia Schmid. Schmid is an award-winning, formerly incarcerated scholar who went to extraordinary lengths to complete her education on the inside. We last heard Schmid describe the impact of Ball State University, which she attended while in the Indiana Women’s Prison, choosing not renew its contract with the Indiana Department of Corrections. This week, she expands on the research she and other prisoners did with the Indiana Women’s Prison History Project, and how their lived experience as prisoners allowed them to uncover dynamics other researchers had overlooked.

In future episodes, we will hear more from both of them about the structural barriers that prisoners face while seeking education. You can hear the first part of this conversation on our website, here.

We will continue the final installment of the interview between Kristina Byers and Anastazia Schmid next week, as they talk about barriers to education while incarcerated. This week, though, we received urgent calls. Faheem Shabazz is a longtime whistleblower and militant inside the Indiana prison system, who was released in 2018. He has been targeted many times by both guards and parole officers for his organizing, landing him back in prison last year.  He has since spoken out against neglect during the COVID-19 pandemic.  He is once again being targeted by guards, as he details in the message we are sharing today.

We end this episode with a call we received from Andre Perry, currently incarcerated at Wabash Valley Correctional, here in Indiana. He shares important reflections on the George Floyd Uprising, the history of racial exploitation, and the prospects for movement solidarity across the prison walls.