WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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This episode is an interview with Kwame Shakur, who is currently incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Institution. On August 11th , Indiana prison activists held a demonstration at the state capitol building in Indianapolis opposing new Indiana department of corrections regulations restricting incoming prisoner mail. The new policy prohibits all mail which is not hand written on white,lined paper. Though the measure is stated to be provisional, many believe it is an effort to further censor the kinds of educational materials which reach inmates. This is the position of the New Afrikan Liberation Collective, an organization founded by two Indiana prisoners, Kwame Shakur and Shaka Shakur. The N.A.L.C. Called for the August 11th demonstration as a part of its growing “Prison Lives Matter” campaign which seeks to build a United Front against the prison system. Since August, Shaka Shakur has come under heavy repression by the administration of Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle. He is currently held in segregation and is being charged with assault against a corrections officer following an altercation provoked by consistent mistreatment. However, we were able to speak with Kwame Shakur, about the new mail restrictions, the New Afrikan Liberation Collective, and its mission to raise consciousness inside and outside the prison walls.
