Rattling The Bars

Rattling the Bars's Mansa Musa explores how a one-woman play, The Peculiar Patriot, reveals the human cost of mass incarceration and the enduring ties between slavery and the prison system. The artist behind the play, Liza Jessie Peterson, has worked with incarcerated youth for decades, bringing their stories to the stage and to national audiences. Performed in more than 35 US prisons and filmed at Louisiana's Angola Prison—once a plantation, now a maximum-security facility—the play became the basis of the documentary, Angola: Do You Hear Us? (Paramount Plus / Amazon Prime). As the fight for abolition and prison reform gains momentum, this story reminds us that art is not decoration—it's a tool for awakening, organizing, and freedom.

From chronic overcrowding and inmate deaths to systematic abuse and lawbreaking by corrections officers, prison conditions in the state of Alabama have reached a crisis point. And yet, state leaders continue to push an “Alabama solution” that involves building more mega-prisons and expanding qualified immunity for officers. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Dakarai Larriett, a Democratic candidate for US Senate in Alabama, about about the true cost of Alabama's carceral crisis and his vision for an alternative vision of criminal justice. Guest:Dakarai Larriett is a community leader, entrepreneur, and Democratic candidate for US Senate in AlabamaCredits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Calling from a prison phone in Nebraska, Nicholas Ely joined his wife, Julie Montpetit, for an episode of Montpetit's podcast, “More Than an Inmate's Girlfriend,” which aims to destigmatize relationships like theirs. Afterwards, Montpetit lost all contact with her husband. Now, Ely is suing several employees in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, alleging that he has faced unlawful retaliation for appearing on the podcast and that his constitutional rights, including his right to free speech, were violated. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Montpetit about losing contact with her husband and about the status of his lawsuit. Additional Links/Resources: Sarah Gentzler, Flatwater Free Press, "A Nebraska inmate went on his girlfriend's podcast. Then the prison cut off their contact"More Than an Inmate's Girlfriend (podcast), "What is 'More Than an Inmate's Girlfriend'?" Credits: Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

In the USA, so many Black parents have seen their children killed by police that, now, growing numbers of those same parents are building a grassroots movement for accountability and justice. On Oct. 14—the birthday of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020—a coalition of parents, allies, and community organizations gathered in Washington, DC, for a rally to remember those who have been killed by the police and to hear from their loved ones who continue to fight in their name. TRNN reports on the ground from the rally in Union Square.Studio Production / Post Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

President Trump repeatedly promised that his mass deportation efforts would target “the worst of the worst” criminals, yet the government's own data reveals that immigrants with no criminal record are the largest group in US immigration detention today. How can the Trump administration justify its deployment of federal agents, and even the military, to US cities based on the factually disprovable fictions that American cities are crime-ridden “war zones” overrun with criminal “illegal aliens”? To answer that, one must study the long-established precedent in the USA of overpolicing poor communities of color that are painted as inherently violent, chaotic, and crime-ridden. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with TRNN reporters Stephen Janis and Taya Graham about what the history of policing in America can teach us about Trump's authoritarian deployment of law enforcement agencies today.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Eric King is a father, poet, activist, and anarchist who was imprisoned in 2014 for acts of solidarity with the Ferguson, MO, uprising in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown. While locked up, King endured years of documented physical and psychological torture, spending the last 18 months of his sentence in the ADX supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with King about how he survived his incarceration “with heart and soul intact,” and about King's new book, A Clean Hell: Anarchy and Abolition in America's Most Notorious Dungeon, in which he “opens the doors of America's most secretive prison and lets the reader step into the cell to experience all the horrors the Federal Bureau of Prisons tries to keep hidden underground.”For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

There are two primary federal agencies tasked with immigration detention: ICE, which is well known, and the US Marshal Service. Under the Trump administration, the US Marshals have dramatically increased their role in detaining and incarcerating undocumented immigrants, using their federal power to override restrictions on immigrant detention in local jails around the country. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, about how the Trump administration is weaponizing legal loopholes and the US Marshal Service to execute the mass incarceration of immigrants.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

After years of pressure from community members and a coalition of over 80 organizations, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has announced plans to close the infamous California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, CA, by the fall of 2026. But organizers say this is just the beginning—they are fighting to close more prisons in California and prevent the government from re-opening shuttered facilities for immigrant detention. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Woods Ervin of the grassroots organization Critical Resistance about California's prison system and the growing abolitionist movement working to dismantle it.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has halted the imminent closure of the infamous "Alligator Alcatraz” detention camp in Florida; now, the future of the facility, and the people incarcerated within it, remains in limbo. “But no matter the future of Alligator Alcatraz, the Trump administration is turning it into a model for expanding detention capacity across the country,” Shannon Heffernan and Beth Schwartzapfel report at The Marshall Project. “Similar large-scale facilities, opened in collaboration with state governments, are already in the works. These projects mark the first time that states have gotten this involved in large-scale immigration detention.” In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Heffernan about how the Trump administration, in collaboration with state governments, is expanding the US system of mass incarceration to unprecedented levels. For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits: Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The “We are all DC” march on Saturday, Sept. 6, was one of the largest protests—if not the largest—to take place in the US capital since the beginning of the second Trump administration. Thousands of local residents, out-of-state supporters, union members, and others marched through the streets of Washington, DC, to demand an end to President Trump's militarized federal occupation of DC. But the march also brought together a cross-section of concerned citizens protesting the Trump administration's attacks on immigrants, US support for Israel's genocide in Gaza, and more. Reporting on the ground for TRNN, Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa speaks with a range of organizers and attendees at Saturday's march.Additional links/info:Mansa Musa & Dave Zirin, The Real News Network, “‘We are all DC': Massive protests rock US capital in defiance of Trump”Mansa Musa, The Real News Network, “DC residents rebel against Trump's ‘gestapo takeover' of US capital: ‘We don't want a militarized city!'”Maximillian Alvarez & Mansa Musa, The Real News Network, “‘Crazy as hell!' and ‘Distraction from Epstein': Residents respond to Trump's takeover of Washington, DC”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

On Saturday, Sept. 6, thousands of local residents, out-of-state supporters, union members, and concerned citizens of all stripes marched through the nation's capital to protest President Trump's militarized federal occupation of Washington, D.C. The “We are all D.C.” march was the largest protest to take place in the US capital since the beginning of the second Trump administration. Reporting from Malcolm X Park, Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa and Edge of Sports TV host Dave Zirin give an on-the-ground account of the size, makeup, and significance of Saturday's protest. Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Established by the Black Guerrilla Family in San Quentin Prison in 1979, Black August is an annual commemoration of the struggle for Black liberation and a time to remember the freedom fighters who have passed or who remain locked up in prison. In 2025, as fascism rises in the US and around the globe, what can the radical tradition of Black August teach us about keeping the fight for freedom alive in dark times? In this on-the-ground edition of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with community organizers at a Black August event hosted by the Washington, DC, chapter of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM).Additional links/info:Malcolm X Grassroots Movement website, Facebook page, and InstagramMansa Musa & Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “George Jackson's unfinished revolution”Mansa Musa, The Real News Network, “Black August and the fight to free political prisoners”Eddie Conway, The Real News Network, “Black August honors the legacy of militant rebellion”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

“Incarcerated workers are a part of the working class,” award-winning journalist Kim Kelly says. And we are “not telling the real history of labor in this country if [we're] not focusing on the organizing efforts and the labor of people who are in prison.”Kelly recently joined Mansa Musa on an episode of Rattling the Bars exploring the history of labor exploitation and labor organizing in America's prison system. To commemorate Labor Day 2025, TRNN is sharing Musa's full, unaired interview with Kelly. Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

“What Kilmar Abrego Garcia's family is going through is just unimaginable,” says Baltimore-based journalist Baynard Woods, “but it is also what we've all allowed to happen over generations of letting the drug war and our deference to police departments erode the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which should protect us all from illegal search and seizure, such as these seizures that ICE is committing all around the country right now.” In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa and Woods discuss the US government's case against Abrego Garcia—whom the Trump administration finally returned to US soil from El Salvador in June—and what the government can do to citizens and non-citizens alike when our right to due process is taken away.Guest:Baynard Woods is a writer and journalist based in Baltimore. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Oxford American Magazine, and many other publications. He is the author of Inheritance: An Autobiography of Whiteness and coauthor, with Brandon Soderberg, of I Got a Monster: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Corrupt Police Squad.Additional resources:Baynard Woods, Baltimore Beat, “Government's case against Abrego Garcia is based on PG County Cop who was on the SA's do not call list”Baynard Woods, Baltimore Beat, “A Maryland man's life is at stake. Trump and Salvadoran president Bukele could not care less”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

President Trump's Executive Order calling for incarcerated transgender women to be housed in men's prisons and halting gender-affirming medical care for prisoners has put one of the most vulnerable segments of the prison population in even greater danger. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa investigates the violent realities trans inmates face in the US prison system, and the impact that Trump's attacks on LGBTQ+ rights is having inside prisons.Guest(s):Dee Deidre Farmer, Executive Director of Fight4Justice. In 1994, Farmer's landmark Supreme Court case, the unanimous Farmer v. Brennan decision, established that prisoners have a right to be protected from harm and that prisons are responsible for their safety.Ronnie L. Taylor, Advocacy, Policy, & Partnerships Director of FreeState Justice in Maryland.Additional resources:Amy Harman, The New York Times, “Judge blocks Trump effort to end treatment for transgender inmates”Kaley Johnson & Sam Levin, The Guardian, “Trans women transferred to men's prisons despite rulings against Trump's order”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Private companies and state governments have long exploited the 13th Amendment to create a profitable agribusiness system that runs on prison slave labor. “If you look at the history of agriculture in the United States, it's built on dispossession, it's built on enslavement,” says Joshua Sbicca, director of the Prison Agriculture Lab, and the legacy of that violence lives on in the big business of “agricarceral” farming today. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host and former political prisoner Mansa Musa speaks with Sbicca about the prisoners farming our food, the parties profiting from their exploitation, and the ongoing fight to uphold the basic rights and dignity of incarcerated workers.Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Mansa Musa, host of Rattling the Bars, spent 48 years in prison before his release in 2019. At the invitation of the UMD College Park Young Democratic Socialists of America, Mansa delivered a lecture on his life behind bars and the political struggles of prisoners.Produced and edited by Cameron Granadino.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Maryland's Second Look Act has passed the State House, and now awaits a vote in the Senate. The bill would allow prisoners to request judicial review of their sentences after serving 20 years of prison time. Advocates say Maryland's prison system is in desperate need of reform; parole is nearly impossible for longterm inmates, and clear racial disparities in arrest and incarceration are immediately evident—72% of Maryland's prisoners are Black, despite a state population that is only 30% Black. Meanwhile, opponents of the Second Look Act charge that the bill would endanger state residents and harm the victims of violent crimes. Rattling the Bars digs deeper, speaking with activists, legislators, and formerly incarcerated people on the real stakes and consequences of the Second Look Act.Produced and edited by Cameron Granadino.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The fingerprints of antebellum slavery can be found all over the modern prison system, from who is incarcerated to the methods used behind bars to repress prisoners. Like its antecedent system, mass incarceration also fulfills the function of boosting corporate profits to the tune of $80 billion a year. Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises, joins Rattling the Bars to discuss her organization's efforts to combat prison profiteering across the country, and expose the corporations plundering incarcerated people and their communities to line the pockets of their shareholders.Producer: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Across Maryland's prison system, incarcerated workers assemble furniture, sew clothing, and even manufacture cleaning chemicals. In spite of making the state more than $50 million annually in revenue, these workers are compensated below the minimum wage in a system akin to slavery. But how does the system of forced prison labor really work, and how do state laws keep this industry running? Rattling the Bars investigates how Maryland law requires government institutions to purchase prison-made products, and how legislators like State Senator Antonio Hayes are working to change that.Producer: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Popular representations of the Black Panthers often focus on their armed self-defense activities, but medical services and health justice were a tremendous part of the party's work. This legacy continues today as Black activists work to transform the medical industrial complex and its relationship to the prison system. Erica Woodland (he/him), co-author of Healing Justice Lineages, joins Rattling the Bars to discuss this history, his current activism, and the role of The Real News's own beloved Eddie Conway in influencing his path.Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

President Biden's decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. Among these critics are opponents of the War on Drugs and mass incarceration, which President Biden played a personal role in architecting throughout his political career. Jason Ortiz, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Last Prisoner Project, joins Rattling the Bars to discuss Hunter Biden's pardon and what it means for Biden's legacy.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Five incarcerated people in Alabama are fighting to push forward a lawsuit, Stanley v. Ivey, challenging the state's power to punish prisoners who resist forced labor. Despite a state constitutional provision abolishing slavery that was passed in 2022 by referendum, Montgomery County Circuit Court dismissed the plaintiffs' lawsuit, arguing Governor Kay Ivey and Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm were protected by state sovereign immunity. Emily Early, Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights' Southern Regional Office, joins Rattling the Bars to discuss the lawsuit and the plaintiffs' ongoing fight to have their case appealed. Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

"Who would want to lock somebody in a room the size of your bathroom and leave them in there for three years...and expect them to come out in the same condition that they went in? That's insanity."A new bill in Washington, DC seeks to end the district's use of solitary confinement in jails. Rattling the Bars' Mansa Musa speaks with two formerly incarcerated organizers: Herbert Robinson and Cinquan Umar Muhammad of the Unlock the Box DC campaign, which advocates for an end to the barbaric practice of solitary confinement around the country and to pass the new ERASE Bill.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Since the 1990s, 2 million people with felony convictions have regained the right to vote, thanks to crucial reforms abolishing felony disenfranchisement in 26 states. This election, these voters could play a crucial role—and based on data from 2020, many of them prefer Trump. There's more to this story however, from incarcerated people's limited access to information, to the role of prisoners' race and even positive perceptions of Harris' gender in shaping incarcerated voters' preferences. Nicole Lewis, engagement editor for The Marshall Project joins Rattling the Bars to discuss her organization's findings and insights into the politics of prisoners. Link to The Marshall Project report: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/10/17/election-voting-harris-trump-incarceration-poll Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Policing and prison abolition policy questions have been minimized in the lead-up to the 2024 November election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, despite their significance in the last election cycle. Yet these ideas have finally pierced into mainstream debate, and committed prison abolitionists are tirelessly organizing to free incarcerated people, improve conditions within the prison system, and close or prevent the opening of new correctional facilities. Rattling the Bars looks back on the past year of discussions with abolitionists on the stakes and political lessons leading up to November's presidential election.Watch the full videos here:‘FreeHer' activists demand Biden release incarcerated women and girls ahead of Mother's Day (May 2024)Will the next president free more prisoners? (Aug 2024)How poor and working-class voters navigate an electoral system that doesn't serve them(August 2024)Prop 6: Could California Finally Abolish Slavery? (Oct 2024)Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, including its prisons. Yet rather than evacuate incarcerated people, the state left prisoners locked up in their cells without running water or light to survive the storm on their own. Schuyler Mitchell, who recently covered this story for The Intercept, speaks to Rattling the Bars about this manmade disaster and its consequences.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

This November, California voters will have the chance to pass Proposition 6. This ballot referendum would nullify the state constitution's exception for involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, and institute additional protections for incarcerated people. Jeronimo Aguilar of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, and John Cannon of All of Us or None join Rattling the Bars for a breakdown of Prop 6.To learn more about Prop 6, visit https://voteyesprop6.com/Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

For nearly half a century, Russell 'Maroon' Shoatz was a political prisoner of the United States. Prior to his incarceration, Shoatz fought against US capitalism and imperialism as a member of the Black Panther Party, and then as a soldier of the Black Liberation Army. Due to his two successful escapes from prison and organizing behind bars, Shoatz spent two decades in solitary confinement. Despite this brutal repression, Shoatz continued to struggle for liberation, leaving behind a trove of political writings that continue to inspire revolutionaries to this day. Shoatz's children, Russell Shoatz III and Sharon Shoatz, join Rattling the Bars for a discussion on his newly published memoir, co-written with Kanya D'Almeida, I Am Maroon: The True Story of an American Political Prisoner.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Researchers with @colorofchange have made a shocking discovery: for decades, prosecutors in Alameda County, California, worked to systematically exclude Black and Jewish individuals from jury participation in order to produce juries that were more likely to support capital punishment. Michael Collins, Senior Director of Government Affairs at Color Of Change, joins Rattling the Bars for a revealing discussion on prosecutor misconduct, and what these findings tell us about the state of the criminal injustice system.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The State of Missouri is scheduled to execute Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams on Sept. 24 for a crime that even prosecutors now say he did not commit. On Sept. 12, a Missouri judge denied a motion filed by prosecutors to vacate Williams' conviction and death penalty. Despite more than half a million petition signatures demanding Williams be freed, Missouri is set to proceed with the execution. Michelle Smith, Co-Director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, joins Rattling the Bars to explain Williams' case and the fight to free him before it's too late.Link to the campaign to free Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams: https://www.freekhaliifah.orgRead the transcript at TRNN.comStudio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The role of financial incentives in mass incarceration is often thought of in terms of the role of private contractors and private prisons. But the far greater financial incentive in mass incarceration comes from the public sector—the role of police in imposing fines and fees on local residents as a strategy to secure revenues for public budgets. This practice is happening all over the country, but now, a new report from Fines and Fees Justice Center explores the extent of this perverse fiscal strategy in the nation's capital, Washington DC. Michael Johnson, Jr. of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute joins Rattling the Bars to discuss this eye-opening report, “The Hidden Cost of Justice.”Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The housing and affordability crisis is getting worse, and more people around the country are facing the grim reality of homelessness. Rather than treating housing as a human right and committing to large-scale construction of accessible housing, states like California are responding with police raids of homeless encampments and imprisonment for unhoused people. On this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa discusses non-carceral solutions to the housing crisis with Zachary Murray and Estuardo Mazariegos of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE).Maria Briones, Cal Matters, "If California won't back affordable housing funding, well, you get what you pay for"Read the transcript of this podcast here. Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The issue of mass incarceration has been far less central to the 2024 election thus far in comparison to the 2020 presidential race. However, that doesn't make the matter any less pressing for incarcerated people, their loved ones, or the activists fighting tirelessly to free prisoners. There are a range of ways presidential candidates could commit to ending mass incarceration, but one tool stands out as a quick fix that can be implemented through presidential prerogative alone: the power of clemency. For months, activists with the FreeHer campaign have been building pressure for the next president to wield their clemency powers to swiftly release women serving extended sentences. Andrea James, founder and executive director of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and Families for Justice as Healing, joins Rattling the Bars to discuss the importance of clemency.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

On Aug. 9, 2014, Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. Police left Brown's lifeless body in the hot sun for four hours, plainly demonstrating the contempt of law enforcement for the local community. The righteous rebellion that followed in Ferguson shook the nation and the world, turning the Black Lives Matter movement that had begun following the earlier murder of Trayvon Martin into a global mass movement. Ten years later, some things have changed, but most things have not. Reforms have been passed at various levels concerning the power and accountability of the police. Yet the culture of impunity and the reality of racialized police violence as a daily occurrence in the US continues. In this special episode of Rattling the Bars, Taya Graham and Stephen Janis of Police Accountability Report join Mansa Musa for a look back on the past decade of attempts to stop police violence, and a discussion on why justice for Michael Brown and so many others continues to elude us.Studio Production: David Hebden, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The 2024 US elections are just three months away, and with polls showing a tight race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, the outcome may come down to voter turnout—and data show that  there is a direct correlation between income level and voter turnout. As Katherine Hapgood recently wrote in an article for the Washington City Paper, "Of the roughly 35 million Americans living at or below the $50,000 threshold widely accepted as 'low income,' just about half reported participating in any of the past five presidential elections, according to an analysis of 2020 U.S. Census data. By comparison, 86 percent of Americans with incomes of $150,000 or higher reported casting a ballot during the same time period." Many poor and working-class people understandably feel that the electoral system does not represent them and their interests, but the results of elections continue to directly and indirectly impact their lives and communities. In this special #election2024 episode of Rattling the Bars, TRNN editor-in-chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with RTB host Mansa Musa and David Schultz, a criminal reform and social justice advocate, about why elections still matter for all of us, and how poor and working-class people, and people impacted by the prison system, can navigate the fraught world of electoral politics to get what they and their communities need.Read the transcript of this episode here.Studio Production: Cameron Granadino, David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The number of homeless people in the United States, either without shelter or in temporary housing, is steadily rising towards a million people. Faced with this crisis, municipalities, counties, and states across the country are responding by criminalizing those experiencing homelessness. Advocate and activist Jeff Singer joins Rattling the Bars to discuss the Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling, and what it means for America's poor.Read the transcript of this episode here. Studio Production / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

A 42-year-old Black woman, Adrienne Boulware, has died in the custody of the California Department of Corrections at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, CA. On July 4, prison guards exposed Boulware to extreme temperatures outdoors during a heatwave for 15 minutes, leaving her with just a small glass of water in the over 110 F heat. Boulware began to exhibit symptoms of heat exhaustion almost immediately after returning indoors. Two days later, she passed away while receiving medical care. Elizabeth "Leesa" Nomura of the California Coalition for Women's Prisoners joins Rattling the Bars to discuss Boulware's tragic death, and what it reveals about the dangers prisons place incarcerated people in as the climate crisis intensifies.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Alina NehlichRead the transcript of this interview here. Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The modern prison system's origins in slavery can be seen in telltale signs throughout the system. The system of chattel slavery had no incentive to keep Black families together—in fact, separation was deliberately used to punish the enslaved. Today, the prison system mirrors this in its treatment of families of the incarcerated. Prisoners are denied the opportunity to be fully present parents by the nature of their condition, and further separation from family through visitation denial, relocation, and other means are used as a way to punish and torture inmates. Ernest Boykin, a father of seven, speaks on his personal experience as a formerly incarcerated parent—and everything he did to ensure that he would remain in his children's lives despite the system's efforts to deny him that right.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

One of the most persistent myths about the US prison system is that the system of mass incarceration helps deter and change harmful behavior. Yet according to the federal government's own statistics, more than 80 percent of formerly incarcerated people will be arrested within a decade after their release. The astronomical rate of recidivism reflects two realities: the prison system targets people for political reasons, and fails to address the roots of social problems. Dominque Conway joins Rattling the Bars to discuss her experience leading prison-based mentorship programs behind bars, and how she and others have used political education as a tool to not only address social problems, but transform people into active agents of change within their communities.Studio Production: David Hebden, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron Granadino, David HebdenHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

It's been 40 years since supervised release was first introduced into the federal court system by the 1984 Sentencing Reform Act. Supervised release, which replaced federal parole and probation, is a secondary sentence judges can impose that only comes into effect once people have already served their time in prison. The legality of the widespread use of supervised release, not to mention its overall constitutionality, is highly controversial. Jabari Zakiya joins Rattling the Bars to make the case for the abolition of supervised release.Studio Production: David Hebden, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron Granadino, Alina NehlichHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

For the past 54 years, Thomas 'Tahaka' Gaither has lived behind bars as a political prisoner. A former member of the Black Panther Party Baltimore Chapter, Gaither was a close associate of 'Marshall' Eddie Conway Jr., who spent his last years as host of Rattling the Bars. Although Gaither was released on parole decades ago, he was forced to return to prison in the late 1990s when Gov. Glendening revoked parole for anyone who had received a life sentence. Tahaka Gaither and his daughter, Tara, return to Rattling the Bars to discuss his life, their family's shared struggle to release Tahaka and live on in spite of the prison system, and what Tahaka's incarceration has meant for generations of his family.Studio Production: David Hebden, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The prison system keeps millions of families from celebrating Father's Day together. For Alexia Pitter of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, separation from her father, Gasi Pitter, has been a lifelong reality. Kept from even embracing her father during prison visits as a child, Alexia's struggle to build and maintain a relationship with Gasi has required taking on the entire prison system. After believing for many years her father would never be released, Alexia is now fighting for her father's release. Rattling the Bars explores this story of a brave daughter's love, and one family's determination to resist.Additional links/info:Sign the petition to Gov. Pritzker demanding Gasi Pitter receive clemency.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoJoin this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmm_7RDZJeQzq2-wvmjueg/joinThe Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us expand our in-depth analysis and coverage from Baltimore to Bangladesh by subscribing and becoming a member today!Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-ytSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-ytBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.

The lived reality of the racist prison system can get lost in the swirl of facts and figures surrounding mass incarceration. Frigid cells in winters and sweltering conditions in summers; the volatility and capriciousness of hostile guards and correctional staff; food barely fit for human consumption; isolation from one's community and deprivation from the routines and small freedoms that made up one's identity prior to incarceration. The trauma of such an experience is undeniable, and extends far beyond prison walls—from overpoliced communities subjected to the constant presence of police surveillance and terror, to the families and relationships put under the strain of separation. Dr. Da'Mond Holt returns to Rattling the Bars for the final installment of a two-part interview, this time speaking with host Mansa Musa and his friend Lonnell Sligh, about their respective experiences behind bars, and the implications of the prison system as a deliberate system of mass trauma affecting Black and other working class communities of color.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoJoin this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmm_7RDZJeQzq2-wvmjueg/joinThe Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us expand our in-depth analysis and coverage from Baltimore to Bangladesh by subscribing and becoming a member today!Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-ytSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-ytBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.

Despite now spending 47 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Leonard Peltier continues to be denied parole by the federal government of the United States. Why has the US so obstinately refused to free Peltier, despite decades of international outcry? The answer lies in the threat posed by what Peltier represents—the demands of the Indigenous liberation movement for sovereignty and justice after centuries of US settler colonialism. Historian Ward Churchill joins Rattling the Bars for a discussion on Leonard Peltier, the American Indian Movement, COINTELPRO, and more.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoJoin this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmm_7RDZJeQzq2-wvmjueg/joinThe Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us expand our in-depth analysis and coverage from Baltimore to Bangladesh by subscribing and becoming a member today!Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-ytSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-ytBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.

In 1977, American Indian Movement member Leonard Peltier was convicted of the murder of two FBI agents, and has remained a political prisoner of the US ever since. Peltier's conviction has long been contested by activists and legal experts. Despite the recantation of three key witnesses, his case has never been brought back to trial. Peltier has been eligible for parole since 1992, and the federal government has ignored calls to free him for more than 30 years. Rachel Dionne Thunder joins Rattling the Bars to discuss Peltier's case and the radical vision of the American Indian Movement which the federal government has sought to repress through Peltier's incarceration.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoJoin this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmm_7RDZJeQzq2-wvmjueg/joinThe Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and making a small donation:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-yt-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-yt-rtbBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.

The oppression of Black people is more than just a historical or political question. The accumulated harms of centuries of slavery, segregation, mass incarceration, and racism in all forms have a psychological and medical effect, in addition to political and economic ones. Trauma, after all, describes the physical injury of the brain as a result of harmful experiences. At the scale of communities and generations, such trauma can be passed down and reproduced for decades, and even centuries. In the first of a two-part conversation, traumatologist Dr. Da'Mond Holt explains the medical reality of Black historical trauma, and what kinds of interventions and solutions are required to promote healing as a form of justice.Studio Production: David Hebden, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Critics of the prison industrial complex have long noted the system's failure to properly rehabilitate those who are locked away in its bowels. Christina Merryman and Ameena Deramous return to Rattling the Bars for the second part of a two-part interview on the reality facing prisoners in Maryland's only women's correctional facility.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

For decades, prisoners' rights advocates have called on the State of Maryland to address its flagrant discrimination against prisoners housed in the state's sole women's prison. As The Real News has previously reported, conditions in the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women are akin to "torture," and the lack of resources and services dedicated to incarcerated women amounts to state-sanctioned, gender-based discrimination. Christina Merryman and Ameena Deramous, both former inmates in the MCIW—or the "Women's Cut"—join Rattling the Bars, explaining the conditions faced by incarcerated women in Maryland, and what advocates inside and outside the prison walls are doing to fight for justice, in the first half of this two-part panel.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The prevalence of sexual violence in the US prison system is so widespread and accepted that it's often made the butt of jokes in popular culture. Yet the reality is that countless survivors of the prison system carry the scars and traumas of sexual abuse—and for many, the perpetrators of these crimes were the very prison staff charged with their protection. Juvenile victims of the prison system are no exception. In Maryland, several adult survivors of sexual abuse as juveniles in state custody have filed a class action lawsuit demanding justice. Lawyer and former DC Council Member LaRuby May joins Rattling the Bars to discuss the class action suit, and the systematic nature of sexual violence in prisons as a form of racial oppression.Studio Production: David HebdenPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

From Assata Shakur to Leonard Peltier, social movements have lifted up political prisoners as revolutionary examples and fought protracted, often decades-long campaigns to secure their release. Now, a new collection from AK Press, Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners, gathers the experience and wisdom of some 30 political prisoners in one place for the first time. Eric King and Josh Davidson, the editors of the project, join Rattling the Bars to discuss their new book and the urgency of the fight to free political prisoners.Josh Davidson is an abolitionist who is involved in numerous projects, including the Certain Days Collective, which publishes the annual Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar, and the Children's Art Project with political prisoner Oso Blanco. Josh also works in communications with the Zinn Education Project.Eric King is a father, poet, author, and activist. He is a political prisoner serving a 10-year federal sentence for an act of protest over the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. He is scheduled to be released in 2024. He has been held in solitary confinement for years on end and has been assaulted by both guards and white supremacists. King has published three zines: Battle Tested, Antifa in Prison, and Pacing in My Cell.Studio / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast