RATTLING THE BARS
Rattling the Bars 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. The show was founded by the late Black Panther and political prisoner Marshall “Eddie” Conway, and is now hosted by Charles Hopkins, better known as Mansa Musa, who himself spent 48 years behind bars.
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
For incarcerated people, the holidays are a reminder of captivity
Separated from loved ones and home, the realities of prison are often pronounced by the festivities of the holiday season.
Recent episodes
Malik Rahim: Climate justice and the prisoners’ struggle go together
The veteran organizer and former Black Panther speaks on conditions in Louisiana prisons and why the environmental struggle is fundamental to our future.
New Orleans wants to expand a city jail—these former prisoners say no
VOTE, a non-profit organization and c4 political group led by formerly incarcerated people, is at the forefront of the fight to stop the $110 million construction of a new mental health wing at New Orleans Parish Jail.
Prisons are putting trans inmates in solitary confinement rather than appropriate housing
Even with the Transgender Respect Agency Dignity Act in place, state prison officials simply flout the law on technicalities.
Baton Rouge cops tortured detainees at ‘Brave Cave’ black site
The revelations of police torture in Baton Rouge build on decades of police terror and impunity, says Rev. Alexis Anderson, a longtime local activist.
Women at California federal prison say prosecution of warden hasn’t stopped sexual abuse
Dublin FCI’s former warden, Ray J. Garcia, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for sexually abusing three women. A new lawsuit says the problem hasn’t stopped.
California is about to execute an innocent Black man
Timothy James Young was convicted of murder in Tulare on the word of a police informant. But there are mountains of evidence demonstrating his innocence.
Maryland’s parole system ‘conditions people for despair’
A new study finds a range of systemic problems in Maryland’s parole system, which is rife with extensive delays and leaves most parole-eligible prisoners serving life sentences to languish indefinitely.
El Salvador’s ‘gang crackdown’ and the permanent state of exception
Nayib Bukele’s wholesale arrests of suspected ‘gang members’ has sent his approval rating soaring.
The Cop City RICO charges and America’s road to fascism
Atlanta’s massive corporate-funded police training complex is a clear reaction against years of anti-police protests, and a grim sign of the future ahead.
Alabama’s pure nitrogen execution of Kenneth Smith could take over 15 minutes
After attempting to execute Smith by other means, the state of Alabama is turning to nitrogen hypoxia gas—an untested, ‘astonishingly cruel’ method.
Ed Poindexter has been a political prisoner for 52 years. His family just wants him to come home.
Incarcerated since 1971, Poindexter is in poor health due to decades of medical neglect, and has been denied parole four times.
George Jackson’s unfinished revolution
52 years since his death at the hands of California prison authorities, George Jackson’s legacy has left an indelible imprint on the ongoing struggles for liberation from capitalist exploitation and the prison state.
Juvenile sentencing in the US is barbaric, racist, and ineffective
22 states still permit the practice of sentencing juveniles to life without parole, and the conservative Supreme Court has shown a troubling openness to overturning past precedents regarding juvenile sentencing.
Nebraska teen, mother imprisoned for abortion is just a taste of post-Roe America
The case of 19-year-old Celeste Burgess and her mother, Jessica Burgess, is just one of many cases since the Dobbs decision where pregnant people were prosecuted for seeking abortion care.
Former Guantanamo detainees were deported to Kazakhstan, UAE
After being ‘released’ by the US government from Guantanamo, many former detainees were deported to ‘third countries’ for further arbitrary detainment rather than being sent home.
Inside the fight to expand addiction care in Alaska
Through treatment and advocacy, True North Recovery is working to improve resources available to Alaska’s prisoners struggling with addiction.
How Maryland discriminates against women prisoners
Without a pre-release center, Maryland’s entire woman prisoner population is housed in a single facility known as ‘the Cut’, where they’re unable to go out on work release, receive an income, or take family leave.
Trump’s indictment and America’s two legal systems
On Rikers, thousands of working class, mostly Black and Brown people languish in jail without being convicted of a crime. Meanwhile, a billionaire facing dozens of felony charges walks free.
A Juneteenth call to close prisons
The Californians United for a Responsible Budget coalition calls for the closure of 10 prisons across the state in the next five years.
US Sentencing Commission could reduce prison time for thousands
Proposed amendments to federal guidelines could qualify 18,775 people for sentencing reduction.
Former prisoner of 48 years reviews John Oliver’s report on solitary confinement
Mansa Musa, who spent 48 years in prison, talks about what John Oliver’s recent Last Week Tonight segment on solitary confinement gets right and what it leaves out, including the fact that solitary was used to isolate Black Panthers and other radicals entering the prison system in the ’70s.
Cash bail is an abomination of justice. We should get rid of it.
The blunt fact about the cash bail system in the US is that it creates a two-tier system of “justice” in which the presumption of innocence is denied to people who have not been convicted of anything but the “crime” of being poor.
How one organization is training formerly incarcerated leaders to fight mass incarceration
JustLeadershipUSA sees the answer to mass incarceration among the 5.5 million people affected by the system of mass punishment today.
Khader Adnan’s martyrdom and Israel’s abuse of Palestinian prisoners
Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi explains the life and death of martyr Khader Adnan, a baker, father, and spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad who led a series of hunger strikes during his incarceration by the Israeli state.
A new media project to bring incarcerated writers to the forefront of prison abolition discourse
Tentatively titled ‘Project Abolition,’ the new initiative by Scalawag Magazine seeks to take back the narrative on prison abolition from mainstream media while expanding publishing opportunities for writers on the inside.
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