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Violence and the Prison Nation

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 15:14 — Against The Grain

By Against the Grain Radio

If the problem is violence against women, is the solution the criminal justice system? Many anti-violence activists look to the police, prisons, and stepped-up criminalization for help and protection.  Beth Richie says that's a misguided approach, one that feeds the buildup of the prison nation. Richie describes the contours of the prison nation and the threats it poses to women on the margins.

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Eric Holder's Ploy to Divert Attention from Obama's Expanded Prisons Budget

Tue, 04/16/2013 - 23:56 — Glen Ford

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

Attorney General Eric Holder claims to have just discovered racial disparities in prosecution and sentencing in the United States. That’s like Robert E. Lee claiming to be surprised at the existence of slavery. Holder is making noises like a prison reformer to divert attention from the fact that Obama’s budget calls for increased funding for prisons, in the midst of austerity. It’s a con game.

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FCC Opens Rulemaking Process To Lower Price of Prison Phone Calls

Wed, 01/16/2013 - 01:46 — Bruce A. Dixon

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

One of the most accurate predictors of which prisoners will be re-incarcerated is the number and depth of their connections maintained with family on the outside. Jailers on the federal state and local level have long cut deals with phone companies to make huge profits on calls between prisoners and their families. Thanks to years of patient grassroots activism, that might be about to end.

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GA Prison Hunger Strike Continues, Families Protest, State Officials Stonewall, Feds Refuse to Intervene

Wed, 07/18/2012 - 13:28 — Bruce A. Dixon

By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

Georgia prison officials, who denied the existence of a hunger strike its first four weeks, finally acknowledged that some prisoners are on their 36th day without food. But they refused to meet with families and citizens who came to its Forsyth GA headquarters early this week. And despite the fact we have a black president and attorney general, and an open-and-shut case of conspiracy to violate civil rights, the feds seem not interested.

First National Meeting of Formerly Incarcerated Convenes in Alabama

Tue, 03/08/2011 - 18:07 — Bruce A. Dixon

A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

In the spirit of those brave and selfless Georgia prisoners who stood up for their human rights last December, formerly incarcerated people from across the country convened their own first national meeting in Alabama last week. The next is scheduled for November in Los Angeles. They stand for the full restoration of civil and human rights, and the rollback of the nation's policy of mass incarceration.

First National Conference of Formerly Incarcerated Persons Convenes In Alabama

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The Humanity and Courage of the Prisoners at Pelican Bay and the Moral Responsibility to Support Their Demands

Mon, 12/20/2010 - 11:19 — Li Onesto

by Li Onesto

No moral human being can defend the U.S. prison system, a gulag of torture and debasement designed primarily for the mass incarceration of Blacks and browns. “Nobody—no matter what they have done—deserves to be tortured. Nobody deserves to be put in such extreme conditions of isolation where prison guards try to extinguish everything that makes you human.” The challenge is to act in solidarity with those who struggle against the horror from within the walls.

America’s Mass Incarceration Policy: Bad for Children

Fri, 12/17/2010 - 10:00 — Lee A. Daniels

by Lee A. Daniels

The “New Jim Crow” that has thrown unprecedented numbers of Blacks behind bars and made crime and stigmatized an entire people, has also mangled the lives of Black children – whether a parent has been incarcerated or not. The generalized effects on Black kids include “increased physical aggressiveness, on the one hand, and, on the other, a sense of worthlessness that reaches levels warranting clinical intervention.” Inequalities are being generationally transferred on a massive scale.

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