When a person is incarcerated, it's like their whole family is incarcerated with them. The impacts are especially devastating for children, who are not only separated from their loved one, but can be isolated socially because of stigmatization. That's what the Freedom Side School, a project coming out of Philadelphia abolitionist movements, hopes to heal by creating a liberation school for children impacted by incarceration. In the Season Finale of our first season, Shakaboona sits down with Portia Taylor and Faith Adams of the Freedom Side School to talk about the school's mission to provide both emotional support and political education to impacted children and break the cycles of incarceration within family lines.

Check out their website to donate and spread the word! www.freedomsideschool.org

Shakaboona sits down with Leigh Owens of PennFranchise to discuss the systematic exclusion of incarcerated people from the electoral process. They point to the power of incarcerated people and their family members as a voting block that can bring progressive change, as exemplified by the 2017 election of Larry Krasner. Although individuals being held pretrial or serving time for misdemeanors in county jails are eligible to vote, jails do not ensure voting access. Recently introduced legislation would remedy this by providing voter information in PA county jails. These efforts are part of a nationwide movement to re-enfranchise incarcerated voters.

Shakaboona and Serge sit down with Nia Holston, an attorney with the Abolitionist Law Center, to talk about the pervasive lack of oversight in jails and prisons. Nia shares insights from her work on a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia and its department of prisons over the conditions of the city’s jails, describing how the COVID pandemic exacerbated existing human rights issues, and how people inside and outside are organizing for accountability.

Episode Notes: This episode was recorded in early 2023, but the unconstitutional conditions continue to this day! ALC and others recently filed a contempt motion, which you can read here: https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-prisons-jail-conditions-class-action-lawsuit-contempt-20240408.html