RATTLING THE BARS
Rattling the Bars, hosted by former Black Panther and political prisoner Marshall “Eddie” Conway, puts the voices of the people most harmed by our system of mass incarceration at the center of our reporting on the fight to end it.
Rattling the Bars offers an honest look at the lives of prisoners, returning citizens, their families, and their communities. With Rattling the Bars, by presenting hard data and real-life stories, we examine and seek to shift public opinion around the misconception that incarceration, punishment, and increased policing make cities safer—the truth of which has been disproven by countless studies. The series examines the history and root causes of the current so-called justice system. It showcases individuals and communities nationwide who are grappling with real solutions to problems created by the prison-industrial complex.
Latest episode
Rather than pay fairer wages, businesses look to prisons to fill ‘labor shortage’
After surviving a deadly pandemic, workers in the US are reluctant to return to unsafe workplaces for poverty wages. Rather than offer better pay, protections, and benefits, businesses are choosing to exploit prison labor.
Recent episodes
Connecticut made prison phone calls free. Other states should do the same
Phone calls to the outside world are a lifeline for incarcerated people. Having access to phone calls also reduces violence in prisons and prisoner recidivism rates. So why have we let prisons and private companies charge so much for them?
Kip Kinkel, the establishment’s poster child for juvenile incarceration, finally speaks
Since the 1998 mass shooting at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Kip Kinkel’s case has been repeatedly used to justify extreme punishment and sentencing for juveniles in the US. After twenty years of silence, Kinkel is speaking out.
In Maryland, organizers fight to give juvenile lifers some measure of hope
Sonia Kumar, senior attorney at the ACLU of Maryland, explains the movement to restore the parole option to people sentenced for serious crimes in childhood.
U.S. Supreme Court ruling makes it easier for judges to give young people life sentences. Now what?
ACLU legal expert Sonia Kumar says the ruling slows but does not stop the movement toward more just sentencing for juveniles.
How an entire Black community was poisoned
If you want to know what ‘environmental racism’ looks like, just look at what’s happened in Tallevast, Florida, a small, predominantly Black community about an hour south of Tampa.
The latest on the deadly effects of COVID-19 in prisons
Eddie Conway talks to two experts about the latest infection rates, issues with transparency, and more.
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