Tag Archives: solitary confinement

This week, Zolo Azania returns to Kite Line. He recently visited Indiana University’s campus, and gave a talk that we began airing last week. On that episode, he reflects on that visit and talks about his history, focusing on how learning to use the law improved his life. The efforts of Azania, his lawyers and supporters successfully freed him from …

This week, we honor the late Russell Maroon Shoatz. On December 17th, Russell Maroon Shoatz passed away. In 1970, Shoatz was convicted for the murder of a police officer in Pennsylvania and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On February 20, 2014, Shoatz was returned to the prison’s general population after being held in solitary confinement …

This week, Mwalimu Shakur calls us from inside Corcoran prison in California to share his experiences in the Secure Housing Unit. He’s been on the show before, talking about the gladiator fights used by guards to punish and control the imprisoned population. Housed in Corcoran for decades, he describes how he kept going under such extreme isolation.  We will have …

Our news today is focused on the long-term consequences of incarceration.  Not only was one of the oldest juvies in the country finally shut down due to systemic abuse of young prisoners, but a number of old school imprisoned militants, from Khalfani Khaldun to Sundiata Acoli, are being hit with repression or are fighting for late-life release.  Reflecting prison’s extended arc …

Mwalimu Shakur, who spoke in last week’s episode about COVID-19 protocols in his facility, returns this week to share more reflections. He shares first-hand experiences of gladiator fights and organizing against the SHU (Secure Housing Unit) from the inside. Corcoran State Prison was the first prison to develop the ultra-repressive SHU.  He also talks about using his time inside to …

This is the first of two conversations I had with Kimberley Brownlee about her recent book Being Sure of Each Other: An Essay on Social Rights and Freedoms. Brownlee writes that our social needs are so fundamental, basic, and universal, that they lead us necessarily into the territory of human rights. Meeting our social needs – for decent human contact, …

Host Clarence Boone spends the hour speaking with Bill and Glenda Breeden, along with Danielle Bruce about Sentences: From the Pen to the Page, a theater production about the effects of incarceration, life, and death sentences. This vignette style play has a cast of 8 performers who will be accompanied by live music. Sentences is directed by Danielle Bruce and …

In this episode, we share a phone call and three short essays from Timothy Smith. Smith spoke to us from inside Cook County Jail, the most recent place he has been held over ten years in custody. Timothy has been at a several institutions around Illinois, and describes entering prison and specifically Menard Correctional Center. He describes solitary confinement and …

This week, we share the words and experiences of Salomon X, a former prisoner in Illinois. In the first of two episodes with Salomon, he describes poor conditions and exploitation in the Menard prison, site of many recent struggles, and compares it with other facilities. Many of his memories will be recognizable to Hoosiers; elsewhere, he has spoken of prisoners …