Prison Radio Audio Feed

Lost City Magazine (1:34) Lisa Strawn

My name is Jamil Pirant and I'm calling from the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Indiana. I'm currently housed in a maximum facility. I've been locked up since a- a juvenile. I was waived from the juvenile court to adult court and juvenile justice reform is something that must be advocated for because the waiver process is a process that's critical to proceedings because the waiver process is something that's highly dependent upon for the juveniles to receive justice when they get to adult court. If the waiver process isn't right that means the jurisdiction that's weighed with the juvenile isn't there. Meaning that the adult court doesn't have jurisdiction to try or convict and that's a situation that I'm under. The same situation that other offenders was under and we're being ignored 100% because juvenile justice reform is something that's not advocated for. So hopefully in the near future soon it'll be something that stood up against. A system to help. Thank you. These commentaries are recorded by No

War Against the Poor and Workers (3:12) Mumia Abu-Jamal

The Rise That Couldn't Be (2:02) Mumia Abu-Jamal

 My name is Charles Karim Diggs. I'm calling from Pennsylvania state prison, SCI Phoenix. The name of my essay is "Somewhere in Your Lifetime." America has experienced the African-American president, our first. Our parents used to tell us one day there would be a black president, but not in their lifetime. I used to wonder why would they believe such nonsense? Once President Obama was elected, I considered it the most brilliant political move ever made in my lifetime. I thought his election was planned to remove the argument about racism and Americans could say there was no more racism in America, let's all get along. The thing is, us Africian-Americans believed having an African-American president would make substantial changes affecting african-Americans.  American people have made progress in many areas: change is part of redeeming itself on the history of American slavery, apartheid, Jim Crow, lynching, and economic power—slavery never ceased. The Mississippi plan of action instituted a modified system of

Freedom (3:09) Charles Diggs

Big Man Howard (1:49) Mumia Abu-Jamal

President Chaos (2:44) Mumia Abu-Jamal

Twilight of Empire (2:30) Mumia Abu-Jamal

Polls (1:57) Mumia Abu-Jamal

How Does Millions Of Felons Succeed (3:50) Charles Diggs

Control (4:22) Charles Diggs

You Know Too Much So No (1:46) Mumia Abu-Jamal

KADDISH FOR THE TREE OF LIFE[col. writ. 10/28/18 (c)’18 Mumia Abu-Jamal] Kaddish, in Jewish ritual, is sung at the graveside of the departed. It is a chant, a song, a psalm of life’s loss, which now, in the quiet city of Pittsburgh, must be sung almost a dozen times, after a white racist, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, entered a synagogue (a Jewish temple) during a naming ceremony for children, and left death in his wake. This massacre occurred just hours and days after another man left over a dozen bombs to be mailed to several former presidents, and actor, and several prominent Black politicians. What connects these two events besides time?Both men left messages online revealing hatred for immigrants, whom both called “invaders”. Where have we heard that word recently? At Trump rallies the US President sends his audiences into wild frenzies of applause when he damns people of Latin America as ‘invaders’ of North America. Yes, it must be said that Trump spoke out against anti-Semitism (perhaps it is corr

MIKE AFRICA — FREE![[col. writ. 10/23/18 (c) ’18 Mumia Abu-Jamal It has been 40 years since MOVE member Mike Africa, has been able to walk the streets.Today, he can do so, because today, he is free! A text from Mike Africa, Jr. announced to the world the following: FINALLY FREE! On Aug. 8th, 1978, my dad was taken away from me. On Oct. 23rd, 2018, I got him back.  #FREETHEMOVE9! Mike Africa is known as a committed runner. Even while he was in the Philadelphia, County Jail (Old Holmesburg), he ran the periphery of the yards like a deer. He is a quiet, serious man, who has suffered extraordinary repression during his prison days. What lights him up is his wife, MOVE member, Debbie Africa, and their two children, Whit and Mike.He has also been a serious student of music, playing guitar for many years. Many years ago, when I worked as a reporter for WHAT radio, I invited MOVE members to the station to prepare some interviews.  Shortly thereafter, 4 or 5  MOVE men arrived at the station, and when I looked out into

Everything That Is Wrong With America (1:36) Kevin Cooper

Prison Rebellion And The Struggle Against Mass Incarceration (1:46) Mumia Abu-Jamal

THE RIGHT TO RAPE[col. writ. 10/20/18 (c) ’18 Mumia Abu-Jamal] It is difficult to use the title that this commentary bears, but upon reflection, it must be so, for the truth supports it. For the truth is, this nation was born in rape. The rape of indigenous women (so called ‘Indians’) was considered but a spoil of war. African women were ravished aboard slave ships, clad in rags and chains.  Many women leaped into the dark, roiling sea, preferring death to how they were treated onboard by seamen. Indeed, if the slave ships were a horror, American slave plantations were worse, for here women were raped systematically. Why?Because the more they became pregnant, the more wealth they produced for the master class. Black male slaves also played a role in this tragedy, for by raping women, they also increased a slaveowners’s wealth. Such men were considered prize bucks for the wealth they created for masters. Indeed, up until the dawn of the 20th century, it wasn’t considered a crime to rape Black women; it was con

"My trials through the criminal justice system." My name is Anastazia, and I'm at the Madison Correctional Facility. In 2001, one nightmare ended and another nightmare began. A three and a half year extremely abusive relationship ended by my hands, induced by a PTSD-triggered dissociative episode after I found out my partner had molested my 6-year-old special needs daughter. My own body sustained injuries by his hand that night. I showed up on my mother's doorstep, tattered and bloody, and told her to call the police. I was conditioned to believe that they would help, that such a thing as justice actually exists. I would learn the truth of this fallacy the hard way. I was immediately taken into custody and held without bond on seven serious yet contradictory charges. The myriad abuses I experienced in the county jail exacerbated my deteriorating mental state. I was found incompetent to stand trial and shipped to a state psych hospital for the criminally insane. My competency came through what is known as chem

"Linking Movements and Daring to Be Free" by Kerry "Shakaboona" Marshall. What does the Black Lives Matter, immigration movement, J20 protesters, Poor People's Campaign, and Occupy movement have in common? Their commonality is that the government's police enforcers has arrested and incarcerated their members in an attempt to break their movement: the people's movement. For people who are exercising their human rights of engaging the government to transform the U.S. political power structure and change the material conditions in our community, the government has incarceration looming over their heads like a gloomy cloud constantly threatening their freedom- freedom. In such times of racial justice, struggles, and social movement upheavals in America, the government has always stolen away the pretense of law enforcement in favor of straight-up naked oppression and class warfare. [Inaudible] workers strikes breaks, Kent State University student killings, Black Panthers, Occupy Wall Street, and #BlackLivesMatter.