Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Solitary Confinement As a Tool of Political Oppression
Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
06 Nov 2018
🖨️ Print Article

Since at least the 1950s, prison officials have used solitary confinement as a political tool against Black inmates, said Brittany Friedman, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University and co-author of an essay titled “Solitary Confinement and the Nation of Islam.” “When it comes to forms of extreme punishment behind bars,” said Friedman, “African Americans have long been the subject of these tools of discipline.”

Black Mass Incarceration

Related Podcasts

Black Agenda Radio July 7, 2023
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio July 7, 2023
07 July 2023
In this week’s segment we hear about CIA medical experiments performed on indigenous children in Canada and Black prisoners in the U.S.
New Documents Link CIA to Medical Torture of Indigenous Children and Black Prisoners
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
New Documents Link CIA to Medical Torture of Indigenous Children and Black Prisoners
07 July 2023
Orisanmi Burton is an assistant professor at American University’s Department of Anthropology.
Black Agenda Radio March 31, 2023
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio March 31, 2023
31 March 2023
In this segment, we will hear the second part of our discussion on racist and punitive immigration policies that are consistent from one presidenti

More Stories


  • Jon Jeter
    As the State’s Complexion Darkens, Minnesota’s Liberalism Wanes
    18 Jun 2025
    Minnesota’s progressive myth shatters as its racial gaps in income, education, and housing eclipse even Deep South states, and right wing whites turn to violence against their own people.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The Only Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East are zionism, U.S./Western Imperialism and Israel’s Nukes
    18 Jun 2025
    The Middle East’s only real weapons of mass destruction are Zionism, U.S. imperialism, and Israel’s nuclear arsenal—a toxic trifecta fueling endless war.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    City Of Angels
    18 Jun 2025
    "City of Angels" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Janvieve Williams Comrie
    U.S. Settler State Violence Claims New Victims
    18 Jun 2025
    From ICE courtroom ambushes to sheriffs' execution threats, America's domestic repression now openly wields the tools it honed in overthrowing foreign governments.
  • Terri Frick
    Unhoused Why? It’s Always About the Land
    18 Jun 2025
    Homelessness isn’t policy failure—it’s policy. From 19th-century British 'clearings' to today’s police sweeps and Blackstone evictions, the playbook stays the same: displace the poor, privatize the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us