Youth

188 | Juvenile Waived Into Adulthood

The Indiana legislature is currently debating SB 449, which would expand the range of situations that would send children to adult court and adult prison.  As of 2017-2018, 69% of the cases where children were sent to adult court involved African American youth.  Under the proposed bill, children as young as twelve could be sent…

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164 | Children in Immigrant Detention

First, we hear some prison news and reflect on the anniversary of the Attica prison rebellion. Then, we hear more from last month’s Bend the Bars conference, which was held in Lansing, Michigan. In a compelling panel called “Fighting Immigrant Detention Centers”, organizers with the Little Village Solidarity Network explain the processes that children go…

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149 | Youth and Gender on the Inside

This week, we cover some sensitive topics on the show. We speak with Fable, who tells her story of incarceration when she was barely 18 years old. Fable shares her complicated experiences with mental health, sexuality and gender, consent, and violence in prison. In a prison system where many young people spend formative periods of…

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120 | Naming Disability

Today, we are sharing the next part of an interview with Talila Lewis and Dustin Gibson, two organizers and researchers addressing the intersection of disability and incarceration.  You heard their interview about the impact of prison on the Deaf community, and the organization they work with, HEARD- Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the…

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119 | Being Heard: Prison and the Deaf Community

Today, we are sharing an interview with Talila Lewis and Dustin Gibson, two organizers and researchers addressing the intersection of disability and incarceration.  After TL describes the high stakes of being deaf in prison, they move on to sketch out the ways that children of color are disabled across society and pushed towards feeling inept…

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87 | Coming of Age While Inside

This week we share the first of two episodes on Jay Smith’s story, also known as Abu Faheem Shabaz, who was recently released from the Indiana Department of Corrections after spending years inside. As he states, Shabaz was part of the carceral system since childhood, and he describes coming of age within the walls of…

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