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
Without A/C, Texas prisons are reaching 110 degrees
A recent study from Texas A&M University found many prisoners fear the heat will kill them. Authorities are doing little to provide relief.
Recent episodes
Mutulu Shakur denied compassionate release despite terminal cancer diagnosis
Prison doctors say the lifelong revolutionary, healer, and stepfather of Tupac Shakur has less than six months to live. Organizers are making a final push to secure his compassionate release.
Virginia revokes early release for inmates with good behavior
A new state law nullifies good behavior credits for early release earned by some inmates over decades of time served. Families that were on the verge of being reunited say it’s a devastating blow.
Chris Hedges on trauma and teaching writing in prison
In a special crossover episode, Chris Hedges joins Mansa Musa on Rattling the Bars to discuss his new book, “Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison.”
New York prisons ban care packages containing food
New York state’s new regulations are forcing families to buy third-party care packages from pre-approved vendors. Families say the new policy is “retaliation” and a way to squeeze more profits from incarcerated people and their loved ones.
How Maryland is preventing prisoners from getting college degrees
“Atiba” Demetrius Brown is taking correspondence courses while incarcerated in Maryland, but because of a new decree by the Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services, he can’t take his exams.
Why are so many LGBTQ people incarcerated in the US?
At least 40% of people incarcerated in American women’s prisons today identify as LGBTQ, and that’s actually a low estimate. The policing of LGBTQ people is baked into the prison-industrial complex.
Cutting incarcerated mothers off from their families hurts everyone
Family reunification after incarceration is a vital step in re-entering society, but for many mothers in prison, connections to family are cut off, causing irreparable damage to everyone involved.
The prison-industrial complex is an environmental catastrophe
Combined with the fact that many prison and jail facilities are built on hazardous sites, the environmental pollution caused by these facilities is a disaster for everyone in and around them.
Imprisoned Ferguson activist ‘assaulted by guards, assaulted by Nazis’
Imprisoned during the 2014 Ferguson uprisings, Eric King and his advocates say he has been targeted and ‘tortured’ by the state, including assaults from prison guards and white supremacist gangs.
‘I wouldn’t even feed this to my dog’: The inhumane reality of prison food
Everyone knows prison food is bad, but it’s even worse than you think, and the damage it does to incarcerated people’s health lingers long after they’ve served their time.
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.
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.
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