Los Angeles rapper Drakeo the Ruler's new album "Thank You for Using GTL" was recorded entirely through the jail phone system. (Deawnne Buckmire) By Chris Richards, Pop music critic for the Washington Post. June 10, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT “This telephone call may be monitored or recorded.” That brain-deadening phrase should sound familiar to anyone who’s … Continue reading The most urgent rap album of 2020? Drakeo the Ruler just phoned it in from jail.
Articles
Music Behind Bars: How BL Shirelle Helps Incarcerated People Craft Their Art
June 16, 2020 ( Courtesy of Dave Jones ) BL Shirelle describes herself in many ways: she is a black woman, a lesbian, and someone who was formerly incarcerated. But her identity and experiences all culminate in her work as an artist. BL is the Deputy Director of Die Jim Crow, the first non-profit record label for formerly and currently … Continue reading Music Behind Bars: How BL Shirelle Helps Incarcerated People Craft Their Art
What I Am Thinking About
An Airforce General's Powerful Response to the George Floyd Murder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NagDXVOmxNE
THE NEW PLANTATION: LESSONS FROM RIKERS ISLAND
13th (it’s about the Amendment)
Film by Ava Duvernay about the way the 13th Amendment has been misused. Rather than ending slavery, it has retained it through a loophole in the amendment about prison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6IXQbXPO3I
Letter from a Region in My Mind
From 1962: “Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.” By James Baldwin - November 10, 1962 - from The New Yorker James Baldwin, New York, September 17, 1946.Photograph by Richard Avedon / © the Richard Avedon Foundation Take up the White Man’s burden—Ye dare not … Continue reading Letter from a Region in My Mind
Virus Raged at City Jails, Leaving 1,259 Guards Infected and 6 Dead
Correction officers in New York City live in fear of bringing the virus home to families. They say the city has not protected them. From The New York Times By Jan Ransom May 20, 2020 For one Rikers Island correction officer, the low point came when he and his wife were both extremely sick with the … Continue reading Virus Raged at City Jails, Leaving 1,259 Guards Infected and 6 Dead
Black female inmates and COVID-19: Medically compromised, vulnerable and neglected
“Women’s needs are obscured in ways that have real consequences … ” An inmate reads a book while in the infirmary at Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility in Santee, Calif., on April 22, 2020.Sandy Huffaker / AFP via Getty Images April 24, 2020 - By Nick Charles for NBCNews.com Coronavirus outbreaks have transformed prisons into hot … Continue reading Black female inmates and COVID-19: Medically compromised, vulnerable and neglected
Coronavirus Cases Are Spreading Rapidly on Rikers Island
Soap and space are still in short supply as at least 231 incarcerated people and 223 staff members test positive for COVID-19. By JULIA CRAVEN - APRIL 02, 2020 - for SLATE An aerial view of the Rikers Island prison in New York City.Debra L. Rothenberg/WireImage Between Wednesday morning and Thursday morning, 47 more incarcerated people … Continue reading Coronavirus Cases Are Spreading Rapidly on Rikers Island
The Fight Against Felony Disenfranchisement
Prisoners in just two states are allowed to vote: Maine and Vermont By Christopher Poulos* - from Harvard Law & Policy Review On election night of 2008, I was incarcerated at a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. I was the only white prisoner in the TV room of my unit as we watched the election … Continue reading The Fight Against Felony Disenfranchisement
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