Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons
Making Contact · Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid-19 and Prisons In a two-part series, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release inmates in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. For Part 2, we talk about why vaccines aren’t an effective solution to ending COVID in prisons, and we also look at how re-entry has become harder during the...
Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons
Making Contact · Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid 19 and Prisons In a two-part series, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release people in prison in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. In part one, we focus on California. We take a look at why a prison, like San Quentin, is such a perfect environment for infectious diseases,...
One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps
Making Contact · One Long Night: Andrea Pitzer on the Global History of Concentration Camps Today we use a lot of euphemisms: re-education camps, internment, work camps, prison camps, camps for internally displaced people. But before World War I, these prisons were known simply as concentration camps and they started in Cuba in the 1890s to control an uprising against the Spanish colonizers. Since then, concentration camps have...
Voter suppression in some communities is ‘by design’
By Emily Rose Thorne, Mercer University Center for Collaborative Journalism Voter suppression in the Native American community is compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Native American populations, who could tip the scales in several key states, testified before Congress about the voter suppression they experience. Prohibitive distances from voting locations have posed significant challenges for voters living on reservations, who have...
Unblock the Vote 2020
Making Contact · Unblock the Vote 2020 This week we’ll explore felon disenfranchisement and the political battle to restore the voting rights of over 6 million people not eligible to vote because of laws that restrict people convicted of felonies from voting. We’ll meet criminal justice activists in California pushing to restore the rights of 50,000 individuals on parole, through the advocacy of a ballot measure in...
70 Million: Voting from Jail is a Right, and Now a Reality in Chicago
Making Contact · 70 Million: Voting from Jail is a Right, and Now a Reality in Chicago Today, in the lead up to the next general election, many Americans in custody still cannot vote. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, of the almost 740,000 people in jail, about two-thirds are awaiting court action on a charge. In other words, nearly 500,000 of them may be eligible to vote. A year ago, Illinois passed a law requiring all...
