Kite Line

This week we share two presentations from the recent Fight Toxic Prisons convergence. Held this past month in Gainesville, Florida, Fight Toxic Prisons is in its fourth year of an annual conferences that focus on the intersection of mass incarceration and the environment.

Our first segment features Jamani and Jordan, who speak about the environmental impact of prison and policing. After that, we have a call in that happened during the conference between a prisoner in San Quentin and the Fight Toxic Prisons audience. We would like to apologize for the challenging sound quality for these segments. As noted during the call-in, there are around 80 prisoners currently on strike against the current phone policies and rates, which means that our call had to take place via a cell phone. Despite these issues, we felt these segments were still worth airing, and hope you enjoy it.

This week, we spoke with participants in the struggle to close Dekalb County jail in Atlanta, Georgia. They walked us through the launch of the movement there, when prisoners smuggled out photos of horrendous conditions inside, which were posted on social media by family members. Since then, a wide range of people have worked to support the prisoners, by writing letters to them, aiding their families who are also organizing, and attending both confrontational demonstrations and somber vigils. This struggle has connected deeply with people across the Southeast, both due to the courage of the prisoners and their outside supporters, but also in its resonance with the other burning issues of today: conditions inside immigrant detention facilities, the scandals inside Rikers Island jail, and overcrowding nationally in the wake of the opioid crisis.

Over the past year, the political prisoner support movement has won an exciting number of releases, with long-term political prisoners from MOVE and the Black Panthers finally gaining their freedom.  But many other political prisoners remain behind bars, and their supporters are not slowing down.  Leonard Peltier is a member of the American Indian Movement who has been behind bars since he was legally kidnapped from Canada by the FBI in the 1970s.  This week, we speak with two committed supporters, Paulette and Sheridan, about Leonard’s case, his health challenges as he ages behind bars, and ongoing legal and political work to free him.  Sheridan is a Florida AIM organizer, while Paulette is a dedicated member of the Jericho Movement, and she also shares reflections on Jericho’s decades-long effort to support political prisoners.