Kite Line

In this episode of Kite Line, we cover the recent demonstrations outside the Workhouse in St. Louis, Missouri. On July 21, police there used pepper spray to disperse 300 people protesting conditions in a medium-security jail called the Hall Medium Security Facility, known popularly as the Workhouse. The demonstrators demanded that the jail be closed, as prisoners inside chanted and …

Maintaining contact with long-term prisoners is key to both their survival and to ongoing struggles across the prison walls. In this episode, we hear a statement from Cindy Crabb, supporter of long-term anarchist prisoner Marius Mason, who will soon enter his 9th year of incarceration. Cindy stresses the need for us on the outside to show continued care and support, …

We return for our final episode with Mark Cook, former political prisoner and member of the Black Panther Party and the George Jackson Brigade. After hearing some news and a request from a supporter of Indiana prisoner Khalfani Malik Khaldun, we hear from Mark Cook about the impact of outside solidarity. Not only did outside solidarity help Mark Cook get …

This week, we return to our interview with Mark Cook. You can hear more about his history in last’s week episode. Now, Mark leads us through several very interesting and entertaining stories from his own release, to his project providing jobs for people as they get released from prison, and other ambitious plans launched with other prisoners, the Black Panther …

This week is the first part of our interview with Mark Cook. Mark served 24 years in prison for his participation in a bank robbery and jail break associated with the George Jackson Brigade in Seattle. He co-founded the Walla Walla chapter of the Black Panther Party, and Mark continued his activism throughout his captivity. In this segment, Mark talks …

This week takes us to Texas, where we hear from Candice Bernd, speaking at the 2nd Fight Toxic Prisons Conference, which took place earlier this month in Denton, Texas. Candice talks about the intersection between environmental activism and the carceral system. In Texas, prisoners are subjected to extreme conditions, and some prisoners have filed a class action lawsuit claiming that …

This week, we return to the story of Clinton “Boo” Gilkie, who died one year ago- on June 7, 2016- in the Monroe County Jail.  We discussed the circumstances of his death in our episode 2 weeks ago, and recommend that you to listen this episode of Kite Line for more context. Our interview today is with TJ, who was …

This week on Kite Line we feature Arianna Staiger, daughter of Marius Mason, an anarchist prisoner who used to live and organize in Bloomington. Ariana speaks about how she experienced Marius’ arrest and persecution, her thoughts on ongoing support and about June 11, a day set aside every year to support and honor Marius and other long-term anarchist prisoners. Before …

June 7th marks the one year anniversary of the death of Clinton Gilkie, and so we devote our June 2nd and June 16th episodes of Kite Line to his story and his memory. Clinton “Boo” Gilkie was held in the Monroe County Jail since he was 16 after a failed robbery using a toy gun. He was set to be …

The death penalty is the barest, most explicit aspect of state violence. Relatively few people are sentenced to death, and even fewer are actively, legally killed by the state but the death penalty persists as an assertion of the sovereign right to take life or to let live. This week on Kite Line, we’ll begin examining the history and experience …