This week, we share two interviews with prisoners confronting rampant COVID-19 infections in their facilities. Cory Cardinal, imprisoned at the Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre in Saskatchewan, Canada speaks about the hunger strike they organized last weekend to protest the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 outbreak at the facility.
Prisoners at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center (RGC) in Jackson, Michigan protested “deplorable” conditions and the Michigan Dept. of Corrections’ dangerously inadequate response to the COIVD-19 pandemic. In an interview with H.H. Gonzales, a prisoner at RGC, he speaks on the protest and the current conditions inside the facility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Special thanks to Perilous Chronicle, you can see links to the full articles associated with these interviews at perilouschronicle.com
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We are also saying goodbye to our friend Karen Smith, long-time Kite Line contributor, who passed away in a car accident earlier this week. You likely heard Karen on many episodes of the show, including the past two episodes, in which she detailed the terrible conditions facing Florida prisoners during the pandemic. As we mentioned in this week’s show, here are some of the Kite Line episodes and other articles that feature Karen and her work:
Fundraiser for Karen’s family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/karen-smith-family
Florida Prisoner Solidarity: https://www.flprisonersolidarity.org/
Memorial from fellow organizer, Panagioti Tsolkas, with links to many articles about Karen and her work: https://antistasisproject.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/next-step-we-burn-it-down/
Karen on the National Prison Strike in 2018: https://www.wuft.org/news/2018/09/05/gainesville-activists-support-national-prison-strike/
The Final Straw Radio, Karen on Operation PUSH: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2018/01/07/operation-push-strikes-in-fl-prisons/
It’s Going Down, Prison Strike Roundtable: https://itsgoingdown.org/inside-outside-all-on-the-same-side-prisonstrike-round-table/
Kite Line- https://wfhb.org/news/kite-line-november-15-2019-more-kites-from-the-inside/
Kite Line- https://wfhb.org/news/kite-line-november-20-2020-punished-for-self-preservation/
Kite Line- https://wfhb.org/news/kite-line-january-5-2018-operation-push/
Kite Line- https://wfhb.org/news/kite-line-april-24-2020-the-deepening-crisis/