We turn our focus this week to a local struggle. Here in Bloomington Indiana, Monroe County Government is quickly moving forward with a proposal for a new $60+ million dollar jail to replace and expand the downtown jail. With little input from community members, consultants hired by the county have recommended jail expansion, and the…
Read MoreIn 2008, Monroe County moved to build a new, expanded jail -framed as a “justice campus” using humanitarian rhetoric. In response, a diverse group of local residents founded an organization called Decarcerate Monroe County (DMC). Judah Schept, who returns as our guest alongside Micol Seigel, was an organizer in the successful DMC campaign to block…
Read MoreWe 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 MoreThis week, we speak with two writers, Laura Lasuertmer and Wendy Lee Spacek. Spacek and Lasuertmer run a writing workshop in the local jail. They tell us about the writing program, what led them to do this project, and its impact on folks in the inside. Then, we share a selection of writings that came…
Read MoreThis week is focused on words from prisoners sent or smuggled from inside. From the jail in Evansville, Indiana, to letters from participants in Operation PUSH- the still-ongoing prison strike across the Florida department of corrections- to a collection of poems from our local jail, prisoners are finding ways to share their individual experiences and…
Read MoreThis episode, we start out with a statement from Anastazia Schmid, a prisoner in the Indiana Women’s Prison. She walks us through a brief history of how prisons, and specifically the modern practice of prison slave labor, came about. She also talks through some basics of how prison serves to isolate those on the inside,…
Read MoreIn this episode, we start with updates from Operation PUSH. After that, we continue hearing from Craig, who spent significant time in the Monroe County jail. You can hear the first part of Craig’s interview in last week’s episode. He spoke about his experiences in the various parts of Monroe County Jail, and also his…
Read MoreFirst off, we include an update from outside supporters of Operation PUSH, the strike in Florida prisons that is now in its fifth day. We will continue to give updates on the situation in Florida’s prisons as they arrive. After the news, we share the first part of Craig’s story, who was recently released from…
Read MoreThis week, we return to the story of Clinton “Boo” Gilkie, who died one year ago- on June 7, 2016- in the Monroe County Jail. We discussed the circumstances of his death in our episode 2 weeks ago, and recommend that you to listen to this episode of Kite Line for more context. Our interview today is…
Read MoreJune 7th marks the one year anniversary of the death of Clinton Gilkie, and so we devote our June 2nd and June 16th episodes of Kite Line to his story and his memory. Clinton “Boo” Gilkie was held in the Monroe County Jail since he was 16 after a failed robbery using a toy gun….
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