Unlocking Change

Camping bans. Street sweeps. Supreme Court decisions. Colorado Radio for Justice host JoyBelle Phelan sits down with Dr. Don Burnes - researcher, author, and 40-year veteran of homelessness policy - to dig into the homelessness-to-incarceration cycle in America. Why don't bans and sweeps work? How and why is poverty increasingly criminalized in this country?Why does "tough love" miss the mark? Burnes introduces the concept of 'relational poverty,' challenges myths about addiction and mental illness, and explains why the math of minimum wage versus housing costs simply doesn't add up. And yes, he says, there is reason for hope - if communities, states, and the nation can find the political will.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

COLORADO RADIO FOR JUSTICE
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A Denver District Court has determined that Colorado's prison labor practices unconstitutional. How did we get here? What's the history of prison labor laws in Colorado and the U.S.? What's the link between the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the day-to-day life of incarcerated people today? In this episode of UNLOCKING CHANGE, Kym Ray of End Slavery Colorado and David Maxted of Maxted Law break it all down, in a conversation with Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ) host JoyBelle Phelan. Colorado, they say, is a bellwether in national prison labor reform.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

COLORADO RADIO FOR JUSTICE
https://www.radioforjustice.org/ 
Instagram //   radio4justice   
Facebook //    radioforjustice   
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Senator Cleave Simpson is Colorado's Senate Minority Leader. In this episode of UNLOCKING CHANGE, Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ) hosts Herbert Alexander and Ryan Conarro sit down with Senator Simpson to talk about everything from water rights and climate change in Colorado, to his journey from his boyhood farming in Alamosa to state office, to questions of criminal justice reform and mitigating extreme sentencing in Colorado. It's all a question, says Simpson, of leaning into the nuances. 

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

COLORADO RADIO FOR JUSTICE
https://www.radioforjustice.org/ 
Instagram //   radio4justice   
Facebook //    radioforjustice   
LinkedIn //   radioforjustice   
Bluesky // https://bsky.app/profile/radioforjustice.bsky.social
X (formerly Twitter) // https://x.com/home

00:00 Unlocking Change Introduction
01:49 Meet Cleave Simpson
02:48 Running for Senate District 6 Office
04:11 The Role of Senate Minority Leader
05:44 The Infuence of Compassion
07:16 Every Senator Represents Their Constituency
07:43 "Raising the Floor": A Moment of Unalignment with the Party
11:03  Perspectives on Extreme Sentencing
12:14 Root Causes & Crime Rates: Auto Theft, Bank Robberies, & More
17:13 The Aguilera-Mederos Case: CO Governor Reduces a 110-Year Sentence
20:45 Simpson's Experience with Criminal Justice Policy
23:06 Snapshot of this Colorado Legislative Session
25:06 CDOC's Requested Budget Increase 
26:07 Workforce and Housing in Rural   Colorado
26:41 Climate Change and Water Issues
27:15 Additional Prospective Bills
27:39 "A Knot to Untie"

As the 2026 Legislative Session of the Colorado General Assembly kicks off, UNLOCKING CHANGE brings a conversation with Javier Mabrey (D), State Representative for House District 1 as well as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ) host Herbert Alexander invites Mabrey to share his journey from childhood poverty into legal practice and state politics, and his perspectives and hopes for reforming long sentencing, cash bail, and the larger economic systems that sustain inequality in the U.S.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

COLORADO RADIO FOR JUSTICE
https://www.radioforjustice.org/ 
Instagram //   radio4justice   
Facebook //    radioforjustice   
LinkedIn //   radioforjustice   
Bluesky // https://bsky.app/profile/radioforjustice.bsky.social
X (formerly Twitter) // https://x.com/home

00:00 Unlocking Change Introduction
01:53 Introduction To Javier Mabrey
02:47 The Legal System Works as Well as Intended
03:28 US Prison Population and Criminalizing Poverty 
05:01 Pretrial Sentencing
05:49 Personal View of Poverty in Our Systems
06:53 The Path to Reforming The Criminal Legal System
08:56 More Likely to Recidivate
09:35 The Habitual Law and Its Effects
10:29 White Collar Crime Disparity
12:15 Who Belongs in Prison?
13:35 Vote for Community Safety
15:01 How Is Incarceration Discussed in The Government?
16:03 Having Hope for Incarcerated Individuals
17:38 The Ebb and Flow of Progress
18:40 What Does the Upcoming Legislative Session Hold?
22:45 What Does Utopia Look Like (Where will The Billionaires Be?)

It's Part 2 of a two-part conversation with Emma Mclean-Riggs, Senior Staff Attorney from the ACLU of Colorado, who sits down with Colorado Radio for Justice hosts Tiffany McCoy and Trevor Jones. Emma examines the criminalization of poverty and homelessness in Colorado communities; the ACLU's work of not just improving incarcerated people's lives inside facilities, but striving to liberate them; and an exploration of what exactly "civil liberties" themselves are. Emma highlights the value of media led by lived-experience producers, and she articulates her vision for a more just future that relies on each and every one of us.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

00:00 Introduction - Camping bans / blanket bans in Boulder
09:14 What motivates Emma?
09:14 Emma's life journey into law
15:08 Colorado incarceration liberatory work
17:11 What are 'civil liberties'? 
18:25 ACLU's history, values, intersectionality
20:58 Support ACLU / Get involved
23:21 Vision for future?

Join Colorado Radio for Justice hosts Tiffany McCoy and Trevor Jones as they dive into a critical conversation with Emma Mclean-Riggs, Senior Staff Attorney from the ACLU of Colorado. Emma discusses the alarming escalations in ICE detention expansions, unlawful deportations by the Trump Administration under the Alien Enemies Act, and the challenges faced by Venezuelan immigrants in Colorado and beyond. Mclean-Riggs shares the ACLU of Colorado's multi-faceted approach to defending civil liberties in today's shifting political climate, from litigation and policy advocacy to community organizing. And she shares what fuels her relentless fight for justice and the constitutional principles at stake: the human beings whose lives and futures are on the line.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

00:00 Introduction

01:57 Meet Emma Mclean-Riggs and the ACLU of Colorado

03:12 ICE: A Pressing Concern

06:59 DBU v. Trump, ACLU of Colorado's Lawsuit

25:25 What Motivates & Sustains Emma in Her Work

27:15 Why Call Prisons "Cages"?

32:31 Children & Trauma from Family Separation

UNLOCKING CHANGE this month features Part 2 of a two-part conversation with Kristen Nelson, Executive Director of the Spero Justice Center, hosted by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ) hosts JoyBelle Phelan and Michael Clifton. Michael shares his journey through the Colorado Department of Corrections and the crime and sentence that brought him there, as a way of examining with the Kristen the current and future possibilities for mitigation, accountability, and sentence reductions. JoyBelle reflects on her work as a Community Corrections board member, inviting Kristen's insights on structural challenges to repairing victim impacts. Finally, our hosts invite Kristen to look into a crystal ball, to articulate possible futures for systems change.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

UNLOCKING CHANGE this month features Part 1 of a two-part conversation between Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ) hosts JoyBelle Phelan and Michael Clifton and Kristen Nelson, Executive Director of the Spero Justice Center. Kristen shares her journey from working on death penalty cases to founding Spero, whose mission is to end mass incarceration in Colorado by addressing long sentences. Michael and JoyBelle reflect on their own journeys through the prison system, and the trio reflects on the importance of hope in the ongoing fight for a more humane and just legal system.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

UNLOCKING CHANGE this month features Christie Donner, Executive Director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. CRJ hosts JoyBelle Phelan and Ryan Conarro invite Christie to dive into nothing less than the full history of mass incarceration and Colorado… and to share how she insists on hope and authenticity in her decades-long efforts to effect a more humane criminal-legal system.

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). www.radioforjustice.org

UNLOCKING CHANGE is a podcast by Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ). This kick-off episode features Rebecca Wallace, Policy Director of the Colorado Freedom Fund. In a conversation with CRJ hosts Tiffany McCoy and Ryan Conarro, Rebecca articulates the importance of supporting the most vulnerable in the criminal legal system; the need to address public health needs over relying on incarceration; and visions for a world in which everyone can be healthy, safe, and free. Visit https://www.coloradofreedomfund.org/ for more on Rebecca's work and her organization. www.radioforjustice.org