Keith “Malik” Washington

221 | Isolation as Retaliation

This week on Kite Line, we share a call from a prisoner located in Seattle, who exposes his facility’s careless treatment of prisoners in the face of COVID-19, and how medical isolation and punitive isolation function similarly. Afterwards, we finish our conversation with Keith Malik Washington. Malik was recently released from prison after many years,…

Read More

220 | Are Incarcerated People Disposable?

We begin this week with a short piece by WFHB reporter Aaron Comforty, who reports on an alleged instance of attempted suicide in the local jail, and one mother’s attempts to find out the status of her son. We also speak with Ted Smith, an Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Louisville…

Read More

219 | Keith Malik Washington is Free

After this week’s news and updates, Kite Line sits down with Keith Malik Washington, who was released from prison last month. We’ve shared many of Washington’s essays and audio dispatches over the years, as he exposed the ongoing injustices and hazards he faced alongside others behind the prison walls.  Even though Washington is now on…

Read More

204 | Nothing Can Be Changed Until it is Faced

The whole country is in upheaval as a vast Movement for Black Lives continues to challenge white supremacy and the institutions of policing and prison. As monuments fall and precincts are seized in Minneapolis to Seattle, the lies and hidden truths of American society are being revealed. We’ve been reminded of James Baldwin’s line that…

Read More

202 | Re-Entry into an Uprising

On this episode, we have a letter from a prisoner at Pendleton Correctional Facility about his experiences with COVID-19 there. We share a short PSA about street safety during protests, and a message from Keith “Malik” Washington. On June 3rd, Bloomington residents occupied the courthouse square in order to support the movement for black lives. …

Read More

151 | Summer of Kites 2019

This week, we have several kites, or messages, from people inside and outside of the prison walls. First, we have a statement that was recorded for us on behalf of Keith Malik Washington, who is housed in a Texas prison. In his statement, he talks about the negative health impacts of prison, along with other…

Read More

117 | Voices of the Formerly Incarcerated, Part Three

This week, we share the final story from the Voices of the Formerly Incarcerated panel that took place during the Fight Toxic Prisons conference in Pittsburgh. After we hear updates on Kevin Rashid Johnson and Keith Malik Washington, we close with anecdotes from Wendell Caldwell. Caldwell speaks on his time inside, its impact on his…

Read More

55 | Prisoner Perspectives on Reform

We cover a range of news in this week’s episode- from a brief history of Black August and the upcoming August 19th prison demonstrations, to current prison conditions in regards to education, visitation, and forced sterilization. We then read a letter from prisoner Keith Malik Washington about the continued suffering from extreme heat in Texas…

Read More