Home > News & Public Affairs > News > Kite Line (page 20)

Kite Line

Kite Line is a radio program devoted to prison issues around the Midwest and beyond. Behind the prison walls, a message is called a kite: whispered words, a note passed hand to hand, or a request submitted to the guards for medical care. Illicit or not, sending a kite means trusting that other people will bear it farther along till it reaches its destination. On the show, we hope to pass along words across the prison walls.

January 17, 2020: Combat and Incarceration, Part One

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 40.6MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreThis week starts our series of conversations with Valrice “Whop” Cooper, the legendary cornerman who learned his craft training prisoners in the Louisiana DOC’s boxing program. For this episode, we discuss his thirty-five-year prison term that began in 1976 at the age of 17, and how coming …

Read More »

January 10, 2020: Weed and Seed

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:33 — 39.3MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreThe Federal government rolled out the weed and seed program in the early 1990s in response to a new wave of urban uprisings. It placed social services under police control, so that cops could first “weed,” (i.e. remove undesirable elements) and then “seed” by distributing resources, following …

Read More »

January 3, 2020: #MeToo in Prison

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 38.4MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreOur episode this week finishes the conversation between Rojas, Meg, and Cyrus. Last week, they spoke about the conditions of transgender and gender non-conforming prisoners in the prison system. They continue talking about efforts to support transgender and GNC prisoners inside and outside of the walls. Additionally, …

Read More »

December 27, 2019: Resilient Inside and Out- A Conversation with Gender Non-Conforming Prison Organizers

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:10 — 39.0MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreOur episode this week is a conversation between Rojas and Cyrus, two advocates with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners.  CCWP is an organization that exists, in their words, to “monitor and challenge the abusive conditions inside California women’s prisons. We fight for the release of women …

Read More »

December 20, 2019: Counterinsurgency on the Inside

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 43.3MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreOn our show this week, we hear from Dennis Boatright, a co-organizer with MAPS- Michigan Abolition and Prisoner Support. Boatright presents ‘From Convict to Inmate’, tracing the counter insurgent and repressive measures- such as isolation, book restriction, and even the colors used within the facilities- used by …

Read More »

December 13, 2019: Recidivism in the First Person

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 38.6MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreFor the first part of this week’s episode- we hear from Onishona. In this interview, she tells us about her experiences with recidivism and problems with re-entry. She also talks about the role books, and specifically how books about mass incarceration, such as The New Jim Crow, …

Read More »

December 6, 2019: Winning Back Your Voice

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 41.5MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreThis week, we speak with two writers, Laura Lasuertmer and Wendy Lee Spacek. Spacek and Lasuertmer run a writing workshop in the local jail. They tell us about the writing program, what led them to do this project, and its impact on folks in the inside. Then, …

Read More »

November 29, 2019: Breakaway Recovery House

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:03 — 38.4MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreThis week, we visit the women of the Breakaway Recovery House. Located in New Albany, Indiana, this halfway house is the residence for 14 formerly incarcerated women. In last week’s discussion of e-carceration, Breakaway was mentioned as a resource enabling women to transition to life on the …

Read More »

November 22, 2019: The Human Cost of E-Carceration

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 39.2MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreThis week, we share a recent round table on e-carceration here in Bloomington. This event was part of a series across southern Indiana, as community members hurt by e-carceration and their families come together to discuss their experiences and work together to understand this complex web of social …

Read More »

November 15, 2019: More Kites from the Inside

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:17 — 35.9MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreThis week, we share two messages sent to us from the inside. We hear from Shaka Shakur about the issues he has been facing since being transferred to Virginia from Indiana. Afterwards, we play a statement by Khalfani Malik Khaldun recorded from the inside prior to his …

Read More »