Podcast appearances and mentions of joshua fattal

In 2014, Shane Bauer was hired for $9 an hour to work as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Winnfield, Louisiana. There was no meaningful background check, and he used his real name despite his notoriety as an award-winning investigative journalist. Four months later he had seen enough, and in short order he left to write an exposé that won a National Magazine Award and became the most-read feature in the history of the magazine Mother Jones. Bauer joined us with excerpts from his book American Prisons: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment to weave a much deeper reckoning with his experiences. He shared his insider account of the private prison system, revealing how these establishments are not incentivized to tend to the health or safety of their inmates. Join Bauer for his blistering indictment of the private prison system and the powerful forces that drive it, and learn the sobering truth about the true face of justice in America. Shane Bauer is a senior reporter for Mother Jones. He is the recipient of the National Magazine Award for Best Reporting, Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, Atlantic Media’s Michael Kelly Award, the Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism, and at least 20 others. Bauer is the co-author, along with Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, of a memoir, A Sliver of Light, which details his time spent as a prisoner in Iran. Recorded live at Seattle First Baptist Church by Town Hall Seattle on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. 

In December 2014, Mother Jones senior reporter Shane Bauer took a job as a corrections officer at a Louisiana prison run by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the country’s second largest private-prison company. During his four months on the job, Bauer would witness stabbings, an escape, lockdowns and interventions by the state Department of Corrections as the company struggled to maintain control over 1,500 inmates. He was paid $9 an hour and was placed in a unit where he and another officer supervised hundreds of inmates. His in-depth narrative and series of videos provide a gripping look inside a prison where both staff and inmates were pushed to the edge. Read the story... While at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, the journalist had an up-close look at the impact of the private prison model on health care. Bauer met inmates struggling to get medical attention, including one who lost his legs and fingers to gangrene after months of neglect. Mental health assistance was minimal. The entire prison had just one part-time psychologist and one part-time psychiatrist. Suicidal inmates were placed in solitary confinement, where they were given meals that fall below USDA caloric standards. Bauer writes about one man who protested the lack of mental health services for years. After being waitlisted for mental health services for two years, he committed suicide. He weighed 71 pounds at the time of his death. Shane Bauer is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism. He is also the co-author, with Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, of A Sliver of Light, a memoir of his two years as a prisoner in Iran. To stay up-to-date on Shane Bauer’s work, follow him on Twitter @shane_bauer or go to his website, www.shanebauer.net.

In the summer of 2009, Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan when they unknowingly crossed into Iran and were captured by a border patrol. Accused of espionage, the three Americans ultimately found themselves in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison, where they discovered that pooling their strength of will and relying on each other were the only ways they could survive. In their poignant memoir, A Sliver of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) “the hikers” finally tell their side of the story. They recount the deception that lured them into Iran in the first place and describe the psychological torment of interrogation and solitary confinement. We follow them as they make surprising alliances with their fellow prisoners and even some of their captors, while their own bonds with each other are tested and deepened. The story is also an indictment of US foreign policy and its inability to produce a diplomatic solution to secure the hikers’ release. Told through a bold and innovative interweaving of the authors’ three voices, here is a rare glimpse into prison life, Iran-US relations and a timeless portrayal of hardship and hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the summer of 2009, Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd were hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan when they unknowingly crossed into Iran and were captured by a border patrol. Accused of espionage, the three Americans ultimately found themselves in Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison, where they discovered that pooling their strength of will and relying on each other were the only ways they could survive. In their poignant memoir, A Sliver of Light: Three Americans Imprisoned in Iran (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014) “the hikers” finally tell their side of the story. They recount the deception that lured them into Iran in the first place and describe the psychological torment of interrogation and solitary confinement. We follow them as they make surprising alliances with their fellow prisoners and even some of their captors, while their own bonds with each other are tested and deepened. The story is also an indictment of US foreign policy and its inability to produce a diplomatic solution to secure the hikers’ release. Told through a bold and innovative interweaving of the authors’ three voices, here is a rare glimpse into prison life, Iran-US relations and a timeless portrayal of hardship and hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices