ReFraming Justice

On a very special episode of the RFJ Podcast, we discuss how letter writing can be a transformative and meditative experience for those on the inside, and how prison mailroom policies in Arizona and across the country are exacerbating the distance between incarcerated people and their loved ones. We’re joined by our allies and accomplices Clyde Hardin, John Fabricius, Nancy Mellan & Deborah North.

The biggest banks in the country are pulling their financial backing from the biggest private prison companies. Why now, and what does it mean long-term in the larger fight to end mass incarceration? On Episode 10 of ReFraming Justice, we discuss private prison divestment with AFSC's Economic Activism Program Director Dalit Baum and Alex Friedmann, an activist shareholder in CoreCivic and the associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center.

On this episode, we seek answers to some important questions within the movement to end mass incarceration: Who can we trust as collaborators? Should we work with law enforcement and other system actors to achieve change? The If Project’s Rafael Batain and Timo Padilla of Sustainable Nations try to answer those questions and more.  

Host Joe Watson shares some of the most powerful and poignant moments from the town hall on state prison conditions that AFSC-Arizona hosted this summer in Phoenix. And Joe updates us on the new interim director of Arizona’s Department of Corrections and Gov. Doug Ducey’s national search for a permanent replacement.

On this special episode of the podcast—hosted by AFSC-AZ's Nate McKowen—Adrienne Kaye, Antonio Espree, and Danny Howe discuss the myriad challenges formerly incarcerated people face after prison and offer solutions for communities looking to support those re-entering society after years, or even decades, away.

Juliana Piccillo and Raquel Velasquez of the Tucson chapter of the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP), join us for a conversation on the continued criminalization of consensual sex work and explain how it’s not only killing sex workers themselves but harming entire communities.

Tuesday Brauer, a leader of AFSC-Arizona’s ReFraming Justice Project, calls in from Phoenix to discuss what it’s like as someone who's formerly incarcerated to lobby state lawmakers for sentencing reform and how it’s impacted her personally. And Caroline Isaacs, AFSC-Arizona’s program director, recaps this hugely disappointing state legislative session while making the case for plenty of optimism going forward.

James Kilgore, the acclaimed author and expert on the complexities of electronic monitoring, explains why wearing an ankle monitor isn’t necessarily better than doing time in prison. And Tiera Rainey explains why AFSC-AZ is working to stop for-profit companies from expanding into electronic monitoring and everything from halfway houses to drug treatment centers.

AFSC-Arizona's Rebecca Fealk discusses her groundbreaking report on our state's draconian drug laws and the harm such legislation causes to families, particularly in poor communities and communities of color. And Zach Perrino and his father, Michael—estranged for more than three years while Zach served time in Arizona's Department of Corrections—have a conversation about addiction, abandonment, and accountability.

Pima County Public Defender Joel Feinman tells listeners how elected prosecutors "gave birth to mass incarceration" and why only elected prosecutors "can kill mass incarceration." And Brandon Sturdivant, the lead organizer of the Mass Liberation Project of People's Action, discusses how marginalized communities can "co-govern" with elected prosecutors to ensure the system is transformed.

On our first episode of the ReFraming Justice podcast, Dr. Gámez discusses the genesis of AFSC-Arizona's multimedia storytelling project and her own journey through our system of criminal punishment. And Jesse, currently a sociology undergrad at the University of Arizona, talks about life as a trans woman in Arizona's prison system.