Rattling The Bars

"Who would want to lock somebody in a room the size of your bathroom and leave them in there for three years...and expect them to come out in the same condition that they went in? That's insanity."
A new bill in Washington, DC seeks to end the district’s use of solitary confinement in jails. Rattling the Bars' Mansa Musa speaks with two formerly incarcerated organizers: Herbert Robinson and Cinquan Umar Muhammad of the Unlock the Box DC campaign, which advocates for an end to the barbaric practice of solitary confinement around the country and to pass the new ERASE Bill.

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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Since the 1990s, 2 million people with felony convictions have regained the right to vote, thanks to crucial reforms abolishing felony disenfranchisement in 26 states. This election, these voters could play a crucial role—and based on data from 2020, many of them prefer Trump. There's more to this story however, from incarcerated people's limited access to information, to the role of prisoners' race and even positive perceptions of Harris' gender in shaping incarcerated voters' preferences. Nicole Lewis, engagement editor for The Marshall Project joins Rattling the Bars to discuss her organization's findings and insights into the politics of prisoners.

Link to The Marshall Project report: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/10/17/election-voting-harris-trump-incarceration-poll

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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Policing and prison abolition policy questions have been minimized in the lead-up to the 2024 November election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, despite their significance in the last election cycle. Yet these ideas have finally pierced into mainstream debate, and committed prison abolitionists are tirelessly organizing to free incarcerated people, improve conditions within the prison system, and close or prevent the opening of new correctional facilities. Rattling the Bars looks back on the past year of discussions with abolitionists on the stakes and political lessons leading up to November's presidential election.

Watch the full videos here:
‘FreeHer’ activists demand Biden release incarcerated women and girls ahead of Mother’s Day (May 2024)
Will the next president free more prisoners? (Aug 2024)
How poor and working-class voters navigate an electoral system that doesn’t serve them(August 2024)
Prop 6: Could California Finally Abolish Slavery? (Oct 2024)

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, including its prisons. Yet rather than evacuate incarcerated people, the state left prisoners locked up in their cells without running water or light to survive the storm on their own. Schuyler Mitchell, who recently covered this story for The Intercept, speaks to Rattling the Bars about this manmade disaster and its consequences.

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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This November, California voters will have the chance to pass Proposition 6. This ballot referendum would nullify the state constitution's exception for involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, and institute additional protections for incarcerated people. Jeronimo Aguilar of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, and John Cannon of All of Us or None join Rattling the Bars for a breakdown of Prop 6.

To learn more about Prop 6, visit https://voteyesprop6.com/

Studio Production: David Hebden
Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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For nearly half a century, Russell 'Maroon' Shoatz was a political prisoner of the United States. Prior to his incarceration, Shoatz fought against US capitalism and imperialism as a member of the Black Panther Party, and then as a soldier of the Black Liberation Army. Due to his two successful escapes from prison and organizing behind bars, Shoatz spent two decades in solitary confinement. Despite this brutal repression, Shoatz continued to struggle for liberation, leaving behind a trove of political writings that continue to inspire revolutionaries to this day. Shoatz's children, Russell Shoatz III and Sharon Shoatz, join Rattling the Bars for a discussion on his newly published memoir, co-written with Kanya D'Almeida, I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner.

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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Researchers with @colorofchange have made a shocking discovery: for decades, prosecutors in Alameda County, California, worked to systematically exclude Black and Jewish individuals from jury participation in order to produce juries that were more likely to support capital punishment. Michael Collins, Senior Director of Government Affairs at Color Of Change, joins Rattling the Bars for a revealing discussion on prosecutor misconduct, and what these findings tell us about the state of the criminal injustice system.

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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The State of Missouri is scheduled to execute Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams on Sept. 24 for a crime that even prosecutors now say he did not commit. On Sept. 12, a Missouri judge denied a motion filed by prosecutors to vacate Williams’ conviction and death penalty. Despite more than half a million petition signatures demanding Williams be freed, Missouri is set to proceed with the execution. Michelle Smith, Co-Director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, joins Rattling the Bars to explain Williams’ case and the fight to free him before it’s too late.

Link to the campaign to free Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams: https://www.freekhaliifah.org

Read the transcript at TRNN.com

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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The role of financial incentives in mass incarceration is often thought of in terms of the role of private contractors and private prisons. But the far greater financial incentive in mass incarceration comes from the public sector—the role of police in imposing fines and fees on local residents as a strategy to secure revenues for public budgets. This practice is happening all over the country, but now, a new report from Fines and Fees Justice Center explores the extent of this perverse fiscal strategy in the nation’s capital, Washington DC. Michael Johnson, Jr. of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute joins Rattling the Bars to discuss this eye-opening report, “The Hidden Cost of Justice.”

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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The housing and affordability crisis is getting worse, and more people around the country are facing the grim reality of homelessness. Rather than treating housing as a human right and committing to large-scale construction of accessible housing, states like California are responding with police raids of homeless encampments and imprisonment for unhoused people. On this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa discusses non-carceral solutions to the housing crisis with Zachary Murray and Estuardo Mazariegos of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE).

Maria Briones, Cal Matters, "If California won’t back affordable housing funding, well, you get what you pay for"

Read the transcript of this podcast here. 

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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