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
The shocking truth about what prisoners endure at ‘shock’ camps
“Shock” camps take a military-discipline approach to “treating” inmates recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. There’s a reason they’re closing down.
Recent episodes
A statement from the family and friends of Eddie Conway
We write to you today to ask for your prayers and support for our beloved Marshall “Eddie” Conway, who has fallen ill over the past few weeks.
The for-profit companies charging prisoners to read their own mail
More and more services in prisons are being taken over by private, profit-seeking companies squeezing inmates and their families for every penny they have.
From ‘Dead Man Walking’ to fighting to abolish the death penalty: Sister Helen Prejean’s journey
Activist nun and world-famous author of “Dead Man Walking” Sister Helen Prejean discusses her new memoir and the deep historical roots of the racist, colonialist violence embodied in the US prison-industrial complex.
Mansa Musa: How I survived 48 years in prison
Rattling the Bars cohost Mansa Musa talks with Eddie Conway about his 48 years in prison, joining the Black Panthers, and fighting for freedom.
Conservatives are changing their minds about the death penalty
In the US, support for capital punishment has long been a mainstay of right-wing politics, but a new generation of conservatives is looking to change that.
Stop trying to revive local economies with prisons
When the justification for keeping inhumane prisons open is that they provide jobs and economic opportunities for local communities, something is deeply, deeply wrong.
How ‘progressive’ can a district attorney actually be?
After two months in office, supporters of Manhattan’s new DA Alvin Bragg are worried his progressive messaging is already giving way to the same brutal system they elected him to change.
‘It is torture’: Women in Maryland’s prisons have nowhere to turn
In Maryland, there are nine separate pre-release and minimum security facilities for male inmates to access work release and other vital re-entry services; for women, there are zero.
Revolt against the carceral world
TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway joins a blockbuster panel of scholars and activists to discuss the origins, functions, and methods for combating the monstrous reach of our carceral system.
An Arkansas jail tested ivermectin ‘treatment’ on detainees without their consent
Horrifying revelations out of Arkansas show that detainees at the Washington County Detention Center were prescribed and given the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat COVID-19 without being told what it was.
‘No human person should live there’: The ongoing horrors at Danbury prison
Over half of the women currently incarcerated at the Danbury Federal Correctional Camp in Connecticut have tested positive for COVID-19 this month, and yet they are being denied proper access to medical care.
‘The state doesn’t forget’: Carrying on Malcolm X’s fight for Black freedom today
Freedom fighters today are carrying on Malcolm X’s legacy by continuing the struggle to liberate political prisoners and organizing to protect Black communities against state violence.
How Maryland prisoners took on the governor
Maryland was one of only three states that gave the governor the power to veto parole recommendations. Thanks to the work of Walter Lomax and other current and former inmates, that changed last year.
Why US prisons don’t want prisoners to read
As one of the many calculated cruelties that define the US prison-industrial complex, the long assault on prisoners’ ability to read books while incarcerated is sinister, inhumane, and must be stopped.
The US deportation machine is out of control right now
Just because the media stopped covering the horrific treatment of Haitian migrants at the US-Mexico border doesn’t mean the horror has stopped. In this urgent episode of Rattling the Bars, we talk about a crucial protest action at an ICE facility in New Mexico.
Why the holidays are the most painful time of the year for prisoners
Every holiday season, prisoners suffer spikes in suicides, violence, and depression. Eddie Conway, who spent 44 years locked up, explains what people on the outside can do to help.
‘How juveniles are railroaded by the criminal justice system’
Prakash Churaman spent his teen years behind bars for a crime he maintains he didn’t commit. Even after having his conviction overturned, Churaman and his supporters are still fighting to clear his name.
The death penalty is a barbarous stain on our humanity
Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, has witnessed firsthand the systematic inhumanity of the death penalty in the US. If more people saw what she’s seen, they would join the fight to abolish it.
‘This is COINTELPRO 2021’
The recent release of longtime political prisoners David Gilbert and Russell Maroon Shoatz is cause for celebration, but the state apparatus that imprisons radicals and squashes political dissent is alive and well.
‘We want Rikers closed and no new jails in its place!’
COVID-19 turned what were already inhumane conditions at Rikers Island, New York’s most notorious jail, into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Prisoners, activists, and legal advocates are demanding it be closed for good.
Surviving the darkness: Eddie Conway speaks with Guantánamo Bay detainee Mansoor Adayfi
In this special episode of Rattling the Bars, legendary Black Panther and longtime political prisoner Eddie Conway speaks with Mansoor Adayfi, “Detainee No. 441,” who was detained at Guantánamo for 14 years until 2016, about the struggle for survival in the dark heart of American empire.
Cuba, COVID-19, and ending the US blockade
The US has effectively jailed Cuba for over half a century through illegal political intervention and economic war. COVID-19 highlighted how this is not only a crime against the people of Cuba, but the world.
Why is Alabama using federal COVID relief funds to build prisons?
Amid widespread criticism, Alabama’s Republican Gov. Kay Ivey and the state legislature have pushed through with plans to use $400 million in federal COVID relief funds to build new prisons.
A staggering number of inmates have died in Louisiana prisons
When law professor Andrea Armstrong and her students wanted data on inmates who had recently died in Louisiana prisons, they realized that such data didn’t exist. After conducting their own research, they were shocked by what they found.
‘Fighting to free our people’: 55 years of the Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party was founded 55 years ago. Black Panther Party archivist Bill Jennings and Eddie Conway discuss the enduring legacy of the Panthers and how people are carrying on that legacy today.
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