in-Care-Ceration Episode 5: Prisons
Beyond Prisons
In this episode we talk about mental and physical healthcare in Washington’s prisons. We speak with Tony Tyson, Queen J, and Darnell Jones, all incarcerated voices in our state, who talk to us about accessing care in prison, and also what they or the people around them have done to get or create care. Content warning: this episode includes first-hand accounts of medical neglect and suicidality in prison. In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.
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In-Care-Ceration Episode 6: Care Reform, Care Otherwise
Beyond Prisons
In this episode we explore ways that people are working to build a more caring and care-full world, and to address the harms of our carceral systems whether they are prisons, jails, or hospitals. Some of the people we talk to are interested in engaging with Washington State to change systems, and others are more interested in finding ways to do care otherwise, outside of state systems. This episode features the words of Scout Smedley, SYP, Cindi Fisher, Joshua Wallace, Lauara Van Tosh, Chris Carney, Shaun Glaze, and LeTania Severe, as well as Patreece Spence. We’d like to dedicate this...
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In-Care-Ceration Episode 3: Civil Commitment
Beyond Prisons
In this episode, we take on the topic of civil commitment and experience. We address hospitalization, the emergency room, and the perspectives of people who work in the system and who receive treatment. We address ways that civil commitment resembles incarceration. We speak to SYP and Laura Van Tosh, and feature the words of Cindi Fisher – all people whose lives and advocacy have intersected with the civil commitment system. This episode contains descriptions of civil commitment and emergency rooms, including discussions of suicidality. Music by Scout Smedley and editing by Nest Audio...
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In-Care-Ceration Episode 4: Jails
Beyond Prisons
In this episode we talk about mental health in jails – what mental health care looks like in jails, how people with disabilities navigate and experience jail, and how activists and organizers have addressed the mental health crisis in urban jails in Washington. We speak with Jordan Landry, Tony Tyson, Leslie McCallum, KL Shannon and Patreece Spence. Content warning: this episode includes first-hand accounts of police violence, unhealthy jail conditions, and suicidal ideation. In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.
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In-Care-Ceration Episode 1: Entanglements
Beyond Prisons
In episode one, we introduce this series’ central questions: what do the mental health system and the criminal legal system have to do with one another? More to the point, how is improving care in Washington contributing to the expansion of jails, prisons and other spaces of confinement? We frame the whole series by outlining ways that care and incarceration are entangled with one another in Washington State. This episode features the voices of Chris Carney (Carney Gillespie) as well as Shaun Glaze (Black Brilliance Research) and LeTania Severe (Black Brilliance Research and Seattle...
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In-Care-Ceration Episode 2: Forensic Commitment
Beyond Prisons
In this episode, we take on forensic commitment, the psychiatric commitment of those who are facing criminal charges but are legally considered not competent to stand trial We unpack how the jail and state hospital systems are connected with each other through forensic commitment, and how there is a surplus of people in the jails who are awaiting space for beds to open up in the state hospital system. This has created pressure for an expansion of forensic commitment space in the state hospital system, something that abolitionists and reformers have addressed. We speak with Chris...
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Introduction to In-Care-Ceration: A Podcast
Beyond Prisons
In-care-ceration is a documentary podcast about how Washington’s so-called mental health system is entangled with the carceral system. How do people in need of mental health care end up losing their freedom, whether in a hospital, jail, or prison? How do these institutions care for people? Do they care for people at all? Are community calls for a more caring system having their intended impact? We especially tune in to how improving care is a guise for expanding confinement and coercion. The podcast episodes feature voices from...
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A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre feat. Garrett Felber
Beyond Prisons
For this episode I sat down with Garrett Felber to talk about their new book, A Continuous Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Martin Sostre. The book is described by Dr. Orisanmi Burton, author of Tip of the Spear, as “A rigorous examination of Sostre's revolutionary life that offers vital lessons for those seeking to carry on the struggle.” I began our conversation by asking Garret about what motivated them to write the book in the first place. We then focus our discussion on what they learned about Sostre throughout the process. Garrett’s clear writing and insightful...
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Lessons from the Garden: Circle Keeping and Restorative Justice feat. Jennifer Viets
Beyond Prisons
In this episode I sat down with the amazing Jennifer Viets for a conversation about her work as a restorative justice practitioner in Chicago. We begin by talking about Jennifer’s experience with being a grandmother including pushing back against societal expectations, how her work shifted from being individually focused to more community oriented, and we explore some of the lessons she’s learned from being a circle keeper about being in right-relationship with others. Jennifer Viets(she/her/hers) has worked as a Restorative Justice Practitioner for the past 15 years....
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For a Livable Future: Building Movements to Stop War & Save the Planet
Beyond Prisons
Welcome to episode three of “Over the Wall: The Abolitionist Hour with Critical Resistance.” For listeners new to Beyond Prisons or our collaboration with Critical Resistance, this is a new, regular series that premiered in September of 2023. Hosted by members of Critical Resistance’s The Abolitionist Editorial Collective, “Over the Wall” discusses articles and key interventions made by Critical Resistance’s cross-wall, bilingual newspaper, The Abolitionist. This special episode focuses on both issues of the newspaper that Critical Resistance (CR) published in 2024:...
info_outlineKim sits down with Ryan Sorrell, founder of the Kansas City Defender, for a conversation about what motivated him to start a media organization, his early days as a content creator covering community and cultural events with his childhood friend and collaborator, and the influences of the radical Black press had on shaping his thinking and approach to journalism as a tool for liberation.
Ryan is an organizer, media worker and artist. In 2021, he founded The Kansas City Defender, a Black-led abolitionist news platform and power-building organization rooted in the tradition of the radical Black press. Within its first two years, The Defender broke over 20 national stories, reached over 50 million people globally, and garnered attention from major national and international outlets. In addition to information services, The Defender builds power through Mutual Aid, political education, and cultural events like basketball tournaments and open mic nights. Ryan has engaged in public commentary across platforms like DemocracyNow, NPR, and University of the Arts London. Most recently, Ryan co-Founded the Mapping Genocide Project, a subversive digital tool launched less than a month ago that exposes the locations of every major facility tied to the top 5 weapons manufacturers arming the israeli colonial project, aiming to challenge imperialism at its core.
Episode Resources & Notes
Pre-order We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition, Edited by Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson
IN STORES NOV. 19, 2024!
Abolition has never been a proposal to simply tear things down. As Alexis Pauline Gumbs asks, “What if abolition is something that grows?” As we struggle to build a liberatory, caring, loving, abundant future, we have much to learn from the work of birthing, raising, caring for, and loving future generations.
In We Grow the World Together, abolitionists and organizers Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson bring together a remarkable collection of voices revealing the complex tapestry of ways people are living abolition in their daily lives through parenting and caregiving. Ranging from personal narratives to policy-focused analysis to activist chronicles, these writers highlight how abolition is essential to any kind of parenting justice.
Upcoming Events
Chicago Book Launch - Monday, November 18, 2024 @ 5:30 p.m. CT
Register for the Chicago Book Launch for ‘We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition’ feat. Maya Schenwar, Nadine Naber, Beth Richie, Jennifer Viets, and Anya Tanyavutti.
Virtual Book Launch - Wednesday, November 20, 2024 @ 7:30 p.m. EST
Register for the Virtual Book Launch for ‘We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition’ feat. Maya Schenwar, Kim Wilson, Dorothy Roberts, and Harsha Walia
Los Angeles Book Launch - Saturday, November 23, 2024 @ 7:00 p.m. Pacific
Register for the LA Book Launch for ‘We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition’ feat. Kim Wilson, Susana Victoria Parras, Alejandro Villalpando, and Dylan Rodriguez
Fundraiser – Haymarket: Books Not Bars: Sending copies of ‘We Grow the World Together’ into prisons.
We feel strongly that this book should be made available for free to people who are incarcerated, so that they can read it, start book groups, and engage in political education around parenting justice.
Can you contribute toward sending copies of We Grow the World Together to folks in prisons and jails?
Credits
Created and hosted by Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein
Website & volunteers managed by Victoria Nam
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