Voting from Jail with a Disability
About 40% of jail inmates nationwide reported having at least one disability, according to a Department of Justice study. Jordan Landry, a visually impaired inmate at King County jail, was able to vote from behind bars. Darya Farivar is a Community and Legislative Liaison at Disability Rights Washington, who helped Landry with the accommodations he needed to do so.
Producer: Yuko Kodama and Jesse Callahan
Image: Disability Rights Washington
Kendrick Glover
Kendrick Glover, the Executive Director and Founder of Glover Empowerment Mentoring (GEM) shares how his experience of being incarcerated with adults as a youth led him toward working on disrupting the school to prison pipeline. (more…)
Incarcerated Women: Fines and Fees
Do financial obligations levied on current and former incarcerated people penalize the poor? A majority of people locked up are either poor or unemployed, prior to incarceration, according to the Prison Policy Initiative’s compilation of data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Fines, fees, and restitution payments pile up for many people leaving prison, making it nearly impossible to find a way out of poverty. KBCS’s Yuko Kodama speaks with Alexes Harris, a University of Washington Sociology Professor who researched monetary sanctions on incarcerated people for her 2016 book, “A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as a Punishment for the Poor“. Harris shares her thoughts on inequality and the intersection of poverty and incarceration.
Incarcerated Women: Juvenile Prison
Listen to what it feels like to be a minor behind bars on our KBCS series on Incarcerated Women as KBCS’s Yuko Kodama speaks with Shontina Vernon, a local artist who was formerly incarcerated in Texas, at age 10.
Incarcerated Women: Pregnant Behind Bars
Being pregnant is a vulnerable time for a woman. But Imagine the thought of going into labor while incarcerated and the thought of handing your newborn over to the foster care system? Abigail Blue is the former executive director of The Birth Attendants: Prison Doula Project, which closed over 5 years ago, saw the plight of incarcerated pregnant women on a daily basis. During Washington state’s last legislative session, Governor Inslee signed a bill allowing volunteer midwives and doulas to be able to give incarcerated women pre-birth counseling and help them prepare for the temporary loss of their child. The bill takes effect June 7th, 2018.
Incarcerated Women: Giving Birth in Prison
Margerita Guzman is an inmate at Washington Correctional Center for Women in Gig Harbor who became locked up while pregnant. She shares her experience of giving birth behind bars and highlights issues mothers face while in the prison system with KBCS’s Yuko Kodama.
Producers Yuko Kodama and Ruth Bly
Incarcerated Women: Prison Pet Partnership
Sheri Ramsey knows the hardships of a long prison sentence all too well. She’s serving a 25 year term at the Washington Corrections Center for Women. But she’s found hope and work training through the Prison Pet Partnership where she trains service dogs. Inmates also provide grooming and boarding services through the program. KBCS’s Yuko Kodama spoke with Ramsey at the prison kennel about the effects of the program on her sentence.
