Kite Line

This week, we broadcast an interview digging into the problem of barriers to higher education during incarceration. This interview is between Kristina Byers and Anastazia Schmid, both  former inmates at the Indiana Women’s Prison. Anastazia speaks to the difficulties accessing a successful educational experience behind prison walls.

These interviews conducted on the barriers to higher education are made possible by a grant from the Lumina Foundation.

In today’s news, we share the words of prisoners at Indiana Women’s Prison who are suffering from extreme conditions and deprivations there.  The related petition can be found here.

In this episode, we have two updates from prisoners in California on their conditions amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Afterwards, we speak with Max Felker-Kantor, historian and professor at Ball State University. Felker-Kantor’s particular focus of study is policing and anti-police violence post WWII. He’s been on Kite Line before, talking about the history of policing in Los Angeles, and about the racially biased national Weed and Seed Program. Today, he talks to us about rebellions, past and present- from Watts, to Liberty City in 1980, to the George Floyd rebellion- and how, although these uprisings are usually sparked by specific instances of racially-motivated police violence, they are indicative of long-term problems in policing.

You can hear previous episodes with Felker-Kantor on policing in Los Angeles here, and here. You can listen to our conversation about the Weed and Seed program here.

Please continue to encourage people to call in to our coronavirus hotline: (765) 343- 6236. We will continue to air statements about the pandemic’s impact on the inside, both from inmates and their loved ones.

This week, we share a phone conversation between Kijana Tashiri Askari and C, one of their outside supporters. Askari is incarcerated in the California Medical Facility- a male-only state carceral medical institution.The recorded this conversation earlier this week, about the conditions Kijana and others are facing, including improper COVID-19 protocol on the part of the prison, retaliatory cell searches, secret transfers of COVID-positive prisoners, and the need to release the elderly. They also describe the importance of providing a platform for prisoners to speak out about their inhumane conditions, their needs, and how acting as their own “reporters” can help give them voice. They stress the importance of continuing to support those prisoners who speak out, as they are often the subject of intense repression after speaking out publicly.

Kijana Tashiri Anskari wrote his situation, in this piece called “Pig Corruption,” which you can read here.

Indiana prisoner Angaza Iman Bahar is still facing harassment and false charges at Miami Correctional Facility.  These charges are being used to delay his release from this month to at least August.  IDOC Watch has made the following request:

“Please call the Indiana Department of Corrections Central Office and demand that the remaining charge against Angaza (aka Jimmy Jones #891782) be dropped immediately! Please make sure to mention the case number and the due process violations when you call, and leave a message if no one picks up

Call IDOC Central Office: (317) 232-5711, ext. 2, ext, 3, ext. 1”

The whole country is in upheaval as a vast Movement for Black Lives continues to challenge white supremacy and the institutions of policing and prison. As monuments fall and precincts are seized in Minneapolis to Seattle, the lies and hidden truths of American society are being revealed. We’ve been reminded of James Baldwin’s line that “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” On this Juneteenth, the movement is forcing America to face the persistence of anti-black racism, and we are amplifying the words of prisoners in struggle against the persistence of prison slavery.

We share Keith “Malik” Washington’s 2018 Juneteenth statement on organizing in Texas against forced prisoner labor, as well as updates from the mother of another Texas prisoner. Additionally, we highlight other struggles at the intersection of the current uprising and the prison system, including those of Greg Curry, serving life for the multiracial uprising at Lucasville in 1993, and of Josh Williams, serving eight years for his courageous role in the Ferguson rebellion of 2014. We end with the beautiful poems – including one for Father’s Day – of James L Morgan, Jr, held inside a North Carolina prison.

In the wake of uprisings across the world in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, this week’s episode shares thoughts on these revolts and their demands, along with considerations on police reform.

We broadcast a June 11th message from Marius Mason’s lawyer, a call from long-term prison rebel Shaka Shakur, and a statement from hunger striking ICE detainees. We close our episode with an essay entitled, Reject Reform, which analyzes the different demands put forward to curb racist police violence. Not all demands carry the same weight, or create the same potential for positive change.