Filter Commentaries
7 commentaries found
Page 1 of 1
Second Chances
William A. Noguera
This is William A. Noguera calling from San Quentin’s Death Row. This piece is entitled “Second Chances.” By today’s standards based on science, a teenager’s brain’s underdeveloped. That teenager is prone to emotional outbursts. It’s… Full Transcript
PSA
Mumia Abu-Jamal
In 1992, the brilliant law professor Derrick Bell published Faces at the Bottom of the Well, a series of potent essays on the sustained efforts of America to assign the bottom of the well to… Full Transcript
American Prisons as Senior Citizen’s Warehouses
Charles Karim Diggs
Hello everyone. My name is Charles Karim Diggs. I’m at Graterford, uh, prison. And my number is AK7945, Box 244, Graterford, PA 19426. I wanted to, uh, share my feelings about the senior citizens in… Full Transcript
Judicial Fury
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Montgomery v. Louisiana decision, ruled that its earlier 2012 ruling in the Miller v. Alabama case, (limiting life sentences when it came to juvenile defendants) was indeed retroactive… Full Transcript
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
https://conta.cc/4ayDxlB](https://www.prisonradio.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
Hello, and welcome to Prison Radio commentaries. I am William A. Noguera, and this piece is entitled “Equal Protection: Fact or Fiction.” In this country, everyone is supposed to be treated equally and fairly. However,… Full Transcript