Featured Speakers/Commentators:	Daniel, grassroots prisoner rights supporter; Don and Gene, prisoners talking about Prisoner Justice Day.
Contributor:	Prison Radio CKUT  [Contact Contributor]
Summary:  Daniel joins us from Halifax, Nova Scotia (or Mikmaw territory) and talks about the September 9, 2018 “Noise” demonstration outside the Burnside provincial prison in solidarity with the prisoners who were striking against the conditions inside and the incredible hardships their loved ones face trying to navigate the roadblocks used against them by the prison bureaucracy. As for Don and Gene, these are two men who have lived first-hand PJD’s from inception to present. You don’t want to miss their insightful opinions on this always important symbol of prisoner rights. You can download the entire show: here

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Prison Radio Show – August 24, 2018

Show featured news and a long interview with Yusuf Faqiri whose brother Soleiman was killed by prison guards in Lindsay Ontario in December 2016.

 

August 24, 2018

This show featured an interview with Robert Gaucher; a retired criminology professor from the University of Ottawa. This was our Prison Justice Day episode. We also aired audio from past PJD radio shows including a piece about a prisoner named Steve who died in prison a few years ago and a piece featuring someone from the Termite Collective talking about deaths in prison.

Some more information about Professor Gaucher: Not only is Mr. Gaucher a retired criminology professor, but he also did time in one of the federal prisons he talks about. So, we have a unique perspective as he takes us on a history lesson of Canadian prisons from the twenties through the penal reform era of the forties and sixties. Robert discusses former prisoner rights groups based inside and outside prisons and how some of the well-known activists, like the late, great Claire Culhane were instrumental in raising public awareness and in penal reform. Robert says that it was Culhane who ignited his metamorphosis to prison activist and fundraiser for social issues. Mr. Gaucher gives an articulate, thought-provoking insight at a pivotal time in prison life and change. Worth listening to, again and again. So throw on those headphones and enjoy!

You can download this entire episode here: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/98888

This show featured an interview with David, a volunteer with Circles of Support and Accountability, or CoSa. We also interviewed Rabbis Eric Weiss and Jon Sommer from the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center.

In the first interview, David, from CoSA, a program for recently released prisoners run by the Quakers’ Friends Service Committee in partnership with the Church Council on Justice and Corrections, discusses his experiences as a volunteer with CoSa. He also draws connections between the Circles of Support and Accountability program and Quaker-led movements for penal reform. For more info on the prison justice work led by the Quakers, visit quakerservice.ca. Outside people can support recently released prisoners through other organizations, such as Communitas (for open door circles on Tuesday evenings), CSRQ (for francophone circles) and CSJR (for offender/survivor meetings). Links to these groups will be posted on our blog.

The show also featured interviews with rabbis Eric Weiss and Jon Sommer of the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center go over their work providing support–spiritual and otherwise, to Jewish prisoners (and occasionally non-Jewish inmates) who are incarcerated in San Francisco and surrounding area. They will also talk of some of their experiences doing what is sometimes referred to as “chaplaincy” work in prisons and Jewish perspectives on incarceration. You can find out more about the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center at jewishhealingcenter.org.

You can download the entire episode here.

This show featured an interview with Nicole Marie Burton, author, prison/social activist and longtime anarchist from Ad Astra Comix.

Nicole works with Ad Astra Comix which espouses social justice themes. They added a pop-up retail shop and in 2015 started publishing books. Other groups use the site’s chat room to give voice to a wide spectrum of social concerns. Nicole speaks at length on the book Free Inside: The Life and Work of Peter Collins, and the incredible impact he made through art and words. If you would like to know more on Peter, or to order a copy of the book, please google Free Inside: The Life and Work of Peter Collins, or go to adastracomix@gmail.com. Nicole and her collaborative team have done a fantastic job.

You can download this episode here.

This show featured Amina Mohammed, a queer Somali Muslim community organizer and educator; Sheena Hoszko, a sculpture and anti-prison organizer; Nasrin Himada, Palestinian writer,editor and curator.

This audio file is based on an event that took place in Montreal on the 29th of May. The event was a launch for the film “Emergent Visions: No Prisons”; a prison abolitionist science fiction film. Amina, Sheena and Nasrin talk about the complicity in systematic structures that shape our world and about imagining a world without prisons.

You can download the entire episode here.

This show featured the voices of Wendy Joanne Bariteau, a lifer and prisoner advocate; Lora McElhinney, prison abolitionist; Sheena Hoszko, sculpter/anti-prison organizer; Amina Mohamed, Somali Muslim organizer; Nasrin Himada, Palestinian writer,editor and curator.

We spoke to Joanne and Lora who are members of Joint Effort, a women prison abolitionist group. J.E. links incarcerated women with outside women to break isolation inside and ready them for life back into the communities. Amina, Sheena and Nasrin spoke at the premier of the film “Emergent Visions: No Prisons”. They spoke about what prison abolition means to them. Link to that event that is https://montreal.carpediem.cd/events/6841454-emergent-visions-no-prisons-screening-and-discussion-at-temps-libre-mile-end/

You can download the entire show here.

This show featured Catherine Latimer who is the Executive Director of the John Howard Society. It also featured Kelly Little Hernandez, a professor in History and African Studies at UCLA and Mumia Abu Jamal, who is an author and political prisoner.

Catherine Latimer discusses how new laws in Canada as well as the use of police intelligence reports are being used to deport landed immigrants. She uses the governments case against Vincenzo DiMaria to make her point. Kelly L. Hernandez talks of past and present state colonialism in the USA. Mumia Abu Jamal uses excerpts from his book to show how slave trade in colonial times was state allowed, enforced and driven. This file also contains numerous news reports and an eclectic range of music.

You can download the entire show here.

This show featured author Naomi Murakawa and Jalil Muntaqim who is an author, political prisoner and former Black Panther.

Naomi speaks about the growth of the prison industrial complex, as well as coverage of Black Lives Matter. Jalil reads two of his poems, titled: Terrestrial Rebel and Seize. Jalil has an upcoming parole hearing. For info about how you can support him with this, visit freejalil.com.

You can download the entire show here.

This show featured audio from a panel discussion at Concordia University in March 12, 2018. The panel was part of the Week Against Police Brutality. The panel was called Racial Profiling and Police Violence in Canada and the United States. We air the speeches from Robyn Maynard and Andrea Ritchie. Yusuf Faqiri also spoke on the panel. For all the info on the event and the speakers bios check out: https://www.cobp.resist.ca/en/node/7449

You can download the entire show here.