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Category Archives: Prisoners
Criminology Mixology
Criminalization, abolition, and prison reform have long been third-rail issues in America. The only benefit to this impasse of ideologies is the mountain of research that has been collected in the interim. Those of us in camp reality, camp humanity, … Continue reading
415 total views
Posted in African Americans, incarceration, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color
Tagged African Americans, criminal justice system, incarceration, prison reform
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The Prison Economy from the Inside
Nineteen-year-old Shamar Betts of Urbana had no previous criminal record when he was arrested for “inciting a riot” via a Facebook post he wrote after witnessing the video of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. He was sentenced to three years … Continue reading
837 total views, 1 views today
Posted in African Americans, incarceration, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color
Tagged incarceration, local African American voices, memoir, prison life
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Diesel Therapy
The odyssey of Urbana resident Shamar Betts continues. Betts was arrested for authoring a Facebook post at age 19 in the wake of the George Floyd murder in 2020. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and charged … Continue reading
928 total views
Posted in African American, African Americans, BLM, incarceration, Justice, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color
Tagged African Americans, Black Lives Matter, incarceration, US Marshals
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Illinois Correctional System: What Is It Really?
The Public i is partnering with the Education Justice Project (EJP) to share writing completed by incarcerated students at the Danville Correctional Center. The EJP is a comprehensive college-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through its educational … Continue reading
1,107 total views, 1 views today
Posted in Arts, Education, incarceration, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Section, Voices
Tagged education, incarcerated people, incarceration
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Frustrations of Peer-to-Peer Education in Prisons
The Public i is partnering with the Education Justice Project (EJP) to share writing by incarcerated students at the Danville Correctional Center. The EJP is a comprehensive college-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through its educational programming … Continue reading
613 total views
Posted in Arts, Education, incarceration, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Section, Voices
Tagged incarceration, prion arts, prison education
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Links
The Public i is partnering with the Education Justice Project (EJP) to share writing completed by incarcerated students at the Danville Correctional Center. The EJP is a comprehensive college-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through its educational … Continue reading
534 total views
Posted in Arts, incarceration, Prison Arts, Prisoners
Tagged incarceration, Prison arts
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Donald Trump v. Shamar Betts
I, Shamar Betts, incited a riot through a Facebook post encouraging my people to join alongside the rest of the world in an attempt to express our feelings on the tragic death of George Floyd in May of 2020. Although … Continue reading
876 total views, 3 views today
Posted in African American, African Americans, BLM, Court System, incarceration, January 6 insurrection, Justice, Prisoners, Racism, Trump, Voices of Color, Youth
Tagged African American, BLM, incarceration, Justice, Trump
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Reckless Law, Shameless Order: Behind the Scenes
One afternoon in April of 2021 Faranak Miraftab called me to ask if I was interested in holding an art workshop with formerly incarcerated artists in continuation of the “IDENSCITY,” a conceptual art space that I had been developing … Continue reading
778 total views
Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Immigrants, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Voices, Voices of Color, Women
Tagged Immigrants, incarceration, local arts, Prison arts
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Two Stories from Statesville Prison
Saving Your Mind: Mental Health in the Age of Corona “This is some next-level shit. I thought I’d seen it all in my 20 years in prison,” said Murder (no real names used), my Quarantine Sanitation Specialist co-worker, as we … Continue reading
1,121 total views, 1 views today
Posted in Arts, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners
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A Muslim on the Inside
“Praise the Gods, Martin Luther King is dead.” Monroe Haynes was an 18-year-old in Vietnam fighting a war he did not understand, with people he did not know, when he heard his commander proclaim this statement. Just barely an adult, … Continue reading
Posted in African Americans, Islam, Prisoners
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New Bill Takes Effect Cutting Cost of Calls from Illinois Prisons
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 8, 2018 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Brian Dolinar, Program Director, Independent Media Center, (217) 621-5827, briandolinar@ucimc.org The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) is proud to announce that as of January 1, 2018, a new state law took … Continue reading
“You’re Still in Jail”: How Electronic Monitoring Is a Shackle on the Movement for Decarceration
(A longer version of this article originally appeared in Truthout.) By James Kilgore Despite the “law and order” vows of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, states and counties continue to take steps to reduce prison and jail populations. In August, Cook … Continue reading
Interview with Marlon Mitchell from FirstFollowers
. The local group FirstFollowers is only two years old, but it is already making in impact in our community. In this interview Marlon Mitchell talks with Carol Inskeep about their mission and the ambitious range of projects the group … Continue reading
Orange Crush: The Rise of Tactical Teams in Prison
Since Ferguson, there has been a public outcry over militarized police who shoot down African Americans on the streets of our cities, but less is known beyond prison walls about guards who regularly brutalize those incarcerated. In Illinois, there is … Continue reading
Posted in Prisoners
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Fighting Mass Incarceration Under Trump: New Strategies, New Alliance
By James Kilgore Yusef Shakur is a Detroit community organizer who spent several years in Michigan state prisons. “The prison-industrial complex has found the right person to feed it,” he said in response to the election results. “Trump is of … Continue reading
Posted in African American, Justice, Policing, Prisoners, Trump
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Regulation of Prison Phone Calls Sweeps the Nation
The Justice Department’s recent recommendation to end the use of private facilities for US citizens in federal prisons has been hailed as a victory by reformers, but the widespread privatization of everyday services in prison, like hygiene products, food, laundry … Continue reading
Statement on the Upcoming Ballot Referendum on “Public Facilities”
Statement delivered by Build Programs, Not Jails before the County Board on August 18, 2016. Last week [on Tuesday, August 9, 2016] the County Board’s Committee of the Whole voted in favor of placing a referendum on the November ballot … Continue reading
IMC Helps Pass Prison Phone Justice Bill in Illinois
State Representative Carol Ammons and Wandjell Harvey-Robinson attended the signing of HB6200 on August 22, 2016. The bill will cut in half the cost of phone calls from Illinois prisons. Thank you to Rep. Ammons and Wandjell for fighting for … Continue reading
Posted in Human Rights, Prisoners, UC-IMC
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Prison Boycott in Illinois Targets Costs of Incarceration
During the month of April, at least 100 of those incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center, about an hour outside of Chicago, participated in a boycott of the overpriced phone calls, commissary goods, and vending machines. “Mass incarceration is a luxury … Continue reading
Posted in Prisoners
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Jail is Not Drug Treatment
If you were to believe those like Champaign County Board Chair Pattsi Petrie, who spoke recently at a meeting of Champaign County’s Racial Justice Task Force, those in the local jail are dangerous people that shouldn’t be let out on … Continue reading
Posted in Prisoners
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