Rattling The Bars

Non-unanimous jury verdicts were a Jim Crow–era policy designed to silence Black jurors and secure convictions even when the state failed to prove its case. In 2026, over 1,000 people remain imprisoned in Louisiana after being convicted by non-unanimous juries. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Erica Navalance, Associate Director of Strategic Criminal Litigation at the Promise of Justice Initiative, about the case of Lloyd Gray and why the state of Louisiana continues to uphold unconstitutional convictions.Guest:Erica Navalance has worked with both Capital Appeals Project and Promise of Justice Initiative (PIJ) since 2015, but joined PJI full time in 2021 as a senior staff attorney for the Strategic Defense Litigation project, focusing on combatting excessive sentences, capital punishment, and other injustices in the criminal system.Additional links/info:Richard A. Webster, Verite News / ProPublica, What one man’s 45-year-old case tells us about the “Jim Crow juries” haunting LouisianaPromise of Justice Initiative, Swastika found on DA file introduced into court, judge grants hearing for PJI client incarcerated for 45 YearsCredits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Returning citizens are being funneled into exploitative temp jobs that pay poverty wages, deny them basic labor protections, and deepen the state’s control over their lives long after they’ve served their time. This week, Mansa Musa speaks with Katherine Passley and Maya Ragsdale, Co-Executive Directors of Beyond the Bars, about how Florida’s temp industry traps the most vulnerable workers and operates as a profitable and punishing extension of the prison system.Guests:Maya Ragsdale is the founder and co-executive director of Beyond the Bars, a worker center in South Florida building the social and economic power of workers with criminal records and their families.Katherine Passley is co-executive director of Beyond the Bars. Passley was named the 2025 Labor Organizer of the Year by In These Times magazine.Additional links/info:Beyond the Bars website, Substack, and InstagramBeyond the Bars, The Temp Trap ReportCredits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Prisons have frequently been presented as a “solution” to the economic woes and employment needs of rural communities around the US—but that doesn’t mean residents of these communities want them there. In Franklin County, Arkansas, for instance, residents are banding together in opposition to the state’s plans to build a mega-prison in their area. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Lauren Gill, a staff reporter from Bolts magazine, and Natalie Cadena, executive director of the Arkansas-based rural advocacy nonprofit Gravel & Grit, about the fight in Franklin County and rural America’s changing relationship to the prison-industrial complex. Guests: Lauren Gill is a staff writer at Bolts. She previously worked as a reporter for The Appeal, Newsweek, and the Brooklyn Paper. Her reporting on the criminal legal system has also appeared in ProPublica, Rolling Stone, The Intercept, Slate, The Nation, and The Marshall Project, among others.Natalie Cadena is a seasoned education professional and writer with over 15 years in public education and 5 years of experience in professional writing. She is also the executive director of Gravel & Grit, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit dedicated to transparency, accountability, and rural advocacy in the state of Arkansas. Additional links/info:Gravel & Grit website and InstagramLauren Gill, Bolts, “The prison next door”Caroline McCoy, Oxford American, “Arkansas’s faulty plan to build a mega prison” Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

For incarcerated people and their families, the holidays are the most painful time of year. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa and TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speak frankly about what it’s like to be locked up during the holidays, why inmate suicides, violence, and depression spike this time of year, and about the life-saving and society-improving steps we can take this holiday season to help prisoners maintain contact with the outside world.C/W: Discussion of suicide and depression Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Fifty years into the era of mass incarceration, states like Arkansas, Montana, California, and Colorado are pushing to build new prisons and expand immigrant detention. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa talks with Nicole Porter of The Sentencing Project about how federal and state governments are doubling down on new prison construction and ICE contracts to expand the prison-industrial complex, what sets the US criminal justice system apart from other countries around the world, and how organizers are fighting for real prison population reductions instead of more cages.Guest:Nicole D. Porter, named a “New Civil Rights Leader” by Essence Magazine for her work to challenge mass incarceration, manages The Sentencing Project’s state and local advocacy efforts on sentencing reform, voting rights, and confronting racial disparities in the criminal legal system. Since joining The Sentencing Project in 2009, Porter’s advocacy and findings have supported criminal legal reforms in several states including Kentucky, Maryland Missouri, California, Texas and the District of Columbia. Porter’s areas of expertise include research and grassroots support around challenging racial disparities, felony disenfranchisement, in addition to prison closures and prison reuse. Her research has been cited in several major media outlets including Salon and the Washington Post, and she has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and on National Public Radio and MSNBC.Additional links/info:The Sentencing Project website, Facebook page, and InstagramLisa Armstrong, Essence, “The new Civil Rights leaders”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

ICE raids and the expanded use of expedited removal are tearing apart immigrant families and neighborhoods in Baltimore. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Baltimore reporter Kori Skillman about how lack of democratic oversight and collusion between local government and federal law enforcement have enabled ICE’s lawless tactics and left Baltimore’s immigrant communities living in constant fear, economic precariousness, and social isolation.Guest:Kori Skillman is a Report for America Corps Member covering justice and accountability for the Baltimore Beat. Skillman investigates policing, incarceration, and civil rights in Baltimore. Most recently, she worked on ABC News’ assignment desk, covering breaking news and editing for live broadcasts. A Bay Area native, Skillman holds a dual B.A. in journalism and international business from San Diego State University, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa, and an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School.Additional links/info:Kori Skillman, Baltimore Beat, “Indiscriminate ICE arrests have left Baltimore’s immigrant communities in a constant state of fear and anxiety”Kori Skillman, Baltimore Beat, “Lack of ICE oversight shows how Baltimore has long been at the mercy of outside powers”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Miami-based organizer Katherine Passley about how prison labor, temp agencies, and the 13th Amendment have created a system that traps formerly incarcerated people in unending cycles of cheap, hyper-exploited work. Passley, Co-Executive Director of Beyond the Bars, also talks with Musa about how her organization is fighting to win free jail phone calls, erase millions of dollars in fines and fees for systems-impacted people, and build powerful bridges between the prison abolition movement and the labor movement in Florida.Guest:Katherine Passley is Co-Executive Director of Beyond the Bars, a worker center in South Florida building the social and economic power of workers with criminal records and their families. Passley was named the 2025 Labor Organizer of the Year by In These Times magazine.Additional links/info:Beyond the Bars website, Substack, and InstagramKim Kelly, In These Times, "Building bridges and erasing jail debt: Katherine Passley"Mansa Musa, The Real News Network, "America is built on prison labor. When will the labor movement defend prisoners?"Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Wisconsin’s much-touted prison overhaul plan promises to close crumbling facilities like Green Bay Correctional Institution, but people locked up inside these facilities may have to wait years for relief they desperately need now. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, formerly incarcerated organizer Sean Wilson joins host Mansa Musa to discuss whether Wisconsin’s bipartisan prison plan will deliver real transformation to a broken justice system, or if it simply amounts to a construction project that leaves that system intact.Guest:Sean Wilson is the Senior Director of Organizing and Partnerships at Dream.Org. In his role, he is responsible for overseeing capacity building, leadership development programs, and grassroots partnerships. Over the past two and a half years, Sean has led the team in building one of the most transformational training programs in the nation - The Dream Justice Cohort, as part of the Justice program. Sean was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has organized at the state and local level around policy change related to youth justice, voting rights, police reform, and criminal justice.Additional links/info:Sean Wilson, Wisconsin Examiner, “I lived inside Green Bay Correctional. Wisconsin can’t wait another four years”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The Alabama prison system functions like a modern-day plantation: overcrowded, understaffed prisons like Bullock Correctional Facility run on forced labor, violence, and deliberate neglect. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with journalist Matthew Vernon Whalan about his book Bullock: Chronicles of Deprivation and Despair in an American Prison, and about the systematic corruption and inhumane horrors endured daily by incarcerated people in Alabama.Guest:Matthew Vernon Whalan is a writer and oral historian living in New England. He is the author of the book Bullock: Chronicles of Deprivation and Despair in an American Prison, and his work has appeared in Counterpunch Magazine, Alabama Political Reporter, Scheer Post, Jacobin, Eunoia Review, New York Journal of Books, The Brattleboro Reformer, and elsewhere. He runs the publication Hard Times Reviewer.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Rattling the Bars's Mansa Musa explores how a one-woman play, The Peculiar Patriot, reveals the human cost of mass incarceration and the enduring ties between slavery and the prison system. The artist behind the play, Liza Jessie Peterson, has worked with incarcerated youth for decades, bringing their stories to the stage and to national audiences. Performed in more than 35 US prisons and filmed at Louisiana’s Angola Prison—once a plantation, now a maximum-security facility—the play became the basis of the documentary, Angola: Do You Hear Us? (Paramount Plus / Amazon Prime). As the fight for abolition and prison reform gains momentum, this story reminds us that art is not decoration—it’s a tool for awakening, organizing, and freedom.🎥 Watch the full interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcDuOs80ya0ResourcesOfficial site — https://www.lizajessiep.comAngola: Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison — Paramount+ / Amazon PrimeInstagram — https://www.instagram.com/lizajessiepeterson Voices of the Experienced (VOTE Louisiana) — https://voiceoftheexperienced.orgNational Black Theatre (Harlem, NY) — https://www.nationalblacktheatre.orgBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

From chronic overcrowding and inmate deaths to systematic abuse and lawbreaking by corrections officers, prison conditions in the state of Alabama have reached a crisis point. And yet, state leaders continue to push an “Alabama solution” that involves building more mega-prisons and expanding qualified immunity for officers. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Dakarai Larriett, a Democratic candidate for US Senate in Alabama, about about the true cost of Alabama’s carceral crisis and his vision for an alternative vision of criminal justice. Guest:Dakarai Larriett is a community leader, entrepreneur, and Democratic candidate for US Senate in AlabamaCredits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Calling from a prison phone in Nebraska, Nicholas Ely joined his wife, Julie Montpetit, for an episode of Montpetit’s podcast, “More Than an Inmate’s Girlfriend,” which aims to destigmatize relationships like theirs. Afterwards, Montpetit lost all contact with her husband. Now, Ely is suing several employees in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, alleging that he has faced unlawful retaliation for appearing on the podcast and that his constitutional rights, including his right to free speech, were violated. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Montpetit about losing contact with her husband and about the status of his lawsuit. Additional Links/Resources: Sarah Gentzler, Flatwater Free Press, "A Nebraska inmate went on his girlfriend’s podcast. Then the prison cut off their contact"More Than an Inmate's Girlfriend (podcast), "What is 'More Than an Inmate's Girlfriend'?" Credits: Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

In the USA, so many Black parents have seen their children killed by police that, now, growing numbers of those same parents are building a grassroots movement for accountability and justice. On Oct. 14—the birthday of George Floyd, who was murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020—a coalition of parents, allies, and community organizations gathered in Washington, DC, for a rally to remember those who have been killed by the police and to hear from their loved ones who continue to fight in their name. TRNN reports on the ground from the rally in Union Square.Studio Production / Post Production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/rattling-the-bars--4799829/support.Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

President Trump repeatedly promised that his mass deportation efforts would target “the worst of the worst” criminals, yet the government’s own data reveals that immigrants with no criminal record are the largest group in US immigration detention today. How can the Trump administration justify its deployment of federal agents, and even the military, to US cities based on the factually disprovable fictions that American cities are crime-ridden “war zones” overrun with criminal “illegal aliens”? To answer that, one must study the long-established precedent in the USA of overpolicing poor communities of color that are painted as inherently violent, chaotic, and crime-ridden. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with TRNN reporters Stephen Janis and Taya Graham about what the history of policing in America can teach us about Trump’s authoritarian deployment of law enforcement agencies today.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

Eric King is a father, poet, activist, and anarchist who was imprisoned in 2014 for acts of solidarity with the Ferguson, MO, uprising in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown. While locked up, King endured years of documented physical and psychological torture, spending the last 18 months of his sentence in the ADX supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with King about how he survived his incarceration “with heart and soul intact,” and about King’s new book, A Clean Hell: Anarchy and Abolition in America’s Most Notorious Dungeon, in which he “opens the doors of America’s most secretive prison and lets the reader step into the cell to experience all the horrors the Federal Bureau of Prisons tries to keep hidden underground.”For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

There are two primary federal agencies tasked with immigration detention: ICE, which is well known, and the US Marshal Service. Under the Trump administration, the US Marshals have dramatically increased their role in detaining and incarcerating undocumented immigrants, using their federal power to override restrictions on immigrant detention in local jails around the country. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, about how the Trump administration is weaponizing legal loopholes and the US Marshal Service to execute the mass incarceration of immigrants.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

After years of pressure from community members and a coalition of over 80 organizations, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has announced plans to close the infamous California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, CA, by the fall of 2026. But organizers say this is just the beginning—they are fighting to close more prisons in California and prevent the government from re-opening shuttered facilities for immigrant detention. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Woods Ervin of the grassroots organization Critical Resistance about California's prison system and the growing abolitionist movement working to dismantle it.For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has halted the imminent closure of the infamous "Alligator Alcatraz” detention camp in Florida; now, the future of the facility, and the people incarcerated within it, remains in limbo. “But no matter the future of Alligator Alcatraz, the Trump administration is turning it into a model for expanding detention capacity across the country,” Shannon Heffernan and Beth Schwartzapfel report at The Marshall Project. “Similar large-scale facilities, opened in collaboration with state governments, are already in the works. These projects mark the first time that states have gotten this involved in large-scale immigration detention.” In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Heffernan about how the Trump administration, in collaboration with state governments, is expanding the US system of mass incarceration to unprecedented levels. For full show notes and transcript, click here.Credits: Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

The “We are all DC” march on Saturday, Sept. 6, was one of the largest protests—if not the largest—to take place in the US capital since the beginning of the second Trump administration. Thousands of local residents, out-of-state supporters, union members, and others marched through the streets of Washington, DC, to demand an end to President Trump’s militarized federal occupation of DC. But the march also brought together a cross-section of concerned citizens protesting the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants, US support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and more. Reporting on the ground for TRNN, Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa speaks with a range of organizers and attendees at Saturday’s march.Additional links/info:Mansa Musa & Dave Zirin, The Real News Network, “‘We are all DC’: Massive protests rock US capital in defiance of Trump”Mansa Musa, The Real News Network, “DC residents rebel against Trump’s ‘gestapo takeover’ of US capital: ‘We don’t want a militarized city!’”Maximillian Alvarez & Mansa Musa, The Real News Network, “‘Crazy as hell!’ and ‘Distraction from Epstein’: Residents respond to Trump’s takeover of Washington, DC”Credits:Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!Help us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast

On Saturday, Sept. 6, thousands of local residents, out-of-state supporters, union members, and concerned citizens of all stripes marched through the nation’s capital to protest President Trump’s militarized federal occupation of Washington, D.C. The “We are all D.C.” march was the largest protest to take place in the US capital since the beginning of the second Trump administration. Reporting from Malcolm X Park, Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa and Edge of Sports TV host Dave Zirin give an on-the-ground account of the size, makeup, and significance of Saturday’s protest. Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcastHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Sign up for our newsletterFollow us on BlueskyLike us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterDonate to support this podcast