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Kite Line

News & Politics Podcasts

Kite Line is a weekly radio program and podcast that focuses on issues in the prison system and beyond. On the inside, a message is called a kite: whispered words, a note passed hand to hand, or a request submitted to guards for medical care. Illicit or not, sending a kite means trusting that other people will pass it farther along, until it reaches its destination. We make this show to pass along words, across the prison walls.

Kite Line is a weekly radio program and podcast that focuses on issues in the prison system and beyond. On the inside, a message is called a kite: whispered words, a note passed hand to hand, or a request submitted to guards for medical care. Illicit or not, sending a kite means trusting that other people will pass it farther along, until it reaches its destination. We make this show to pass along words, across the prison walls.
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Location:

Bloomington, IN

Description:

Kite Line is a weekly radio program and podcast that focuses on issues in the prison system and beyond. On the inside, a message is called a kite: whispered words, a note passed hand to hand, or a request submitted to guards for medical care. Illicit or not, sending a kite means trusting that other people will pass it farther along, until it reaches its destination. We make this show to pass along words, across the prison walls.

Language:

English

Contact:

(812) 269-2512

Episodes

316 | The Phone as a Weapon – Keith LaMar on His Hunger Strike

8/12/2022
Keith LaMar, also known as Bomani Shakur, is a prisoner on Ohio’s Death Row. He is facing execution in autumn 2023 after being framed in prison due to his advocacy for other prisoners and his refusal to snitch on others in the aftermath of the 1993 Lucasville Uprising. He has consistently expressed solidarity with other... The post 316 | The Phone as a Weapon – Keith LaMar on His Hunger Strike first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

315 | Summer of Kites 2022

8/8/2022
We launch into this episode with our monthly roundup of prison disturbances, as compiled by Perilous Chronicle. Afterwards, we have audio from a prisoner, Paul Lee, reporting on a massive transfer of inmates back in February from Pontiac, Illinois correctional facility to Centralia Correctional Center due to an ongoing black mold problem, which had been... The post 315 | Summer of Kites 2022 first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:29:00

314 | Prison’s Impact on Families

7/29/2022
We are again sticking close to home this week. We share the second part of a panel on the effects of incarceration on families. Max E. Smith, Becky Harris, Stacy Flynn, and Ashley C. Ford speak on their experiences of having incarcerated loved ones or how their time inside affected their family members. All Indiana... The post 314 | Prison’s Impact on Families first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

313 | Incarceration’s Burden

7/22/2022
We are sticking close to home this week. We share the first part of a panel on the effects of incarceration on families. Max E. Smith, Becky Harris, Stacy Flynn, and Ashley C. Ford speak on their experiences of having incarcerated loved ones or how their time inside affected their family members. All Indiana residents,... The post 313 | Incarceration’s Burden first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

312 | Echoes of the 2018 Prison Strike

7/17/2022
We recently marked our 300th consecutive episode, and in honor of that we have been airing our favorite selections from previous shows. As we approach the upcoming 4 year anniversary of the most recent National Prison Strike, we wanted to air these calls from two prisoners inside South Carolina, who risked their own safety to send... The post 312 | Echoes of the 2018 Prison Strike first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:29:00

311 | The Old Atlanta Prison Farm

7/16/2022
This week on Kite Line, we return to Atlanta’s proposed “Cop City”- a police training facility set to be built over a vast urban forest. People from across the city and the country have been organizing against its construction, which would make it the largest police training facility in the United States. People have been... The post 311 | The Old Atlanta Prison Farm first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:29:00

310 | No Reforming Them- Jarrod Shanahan on Rikers Island

6/30/2022
This week, we share the final part of a conversation about Rikers Island between Bella Bravo and Jarrod Shanahan. Shanahan is a writer, activist, and professor of Criminal Justice based in Chicago. He has previously appeared on Kite Line to discuss mass incarceration and the George Floyd rebellion. We are speaking again today about his... The post 310 | No Reforming Them- Jarrod Shanahan on Rikers Island first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

309 | Captives with Jarrod Shanahan, Part One

6/24/2022
This week, Bella Bravo speaks with Jarrod Shanahan, a writer, activist, and professor of Criminal Justice based in Chicago. Shanahan has been on previous episodes, discussing mass incarceration and the George Floyd rebellion. We are speaking today about his new book Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage. Captives recounts the last seventy years of... The post 309 | Captives with Jarrod Shanahan, Part One first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

308 | A Great Moment to Push Further

6/17/2022
Interview with Maru Moro Villalpando of La Resistencia, a project that organizes against the Northwest Detention Center. In this conversation, Maru passes a kite along on behalf of immigrants housed in the facility. As they point out, facilities like this are “black boxes” where extra effort must be taken to shed light on conditions inside.... The post 308 | A Great Moment to Push Further first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

307 | Holding on to Your Humanity

6/10/2022
This week we return to our conversation between Baye Sylvester and Focus Initiatives’ Jok Huerta. Both formerly incarcerated in Indiana, they described the circumstances that brought them to prison in a previous episode. In this segment, they talk about the way the prison system strips people of their humanity- and the struggle to retain one’s... The post 307 | Holding on to Your Humanity first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

306 | Immigration and E-carceration

6/3/2022
For this week’s episode, Bella Bravo spoke with Johana Bhuiyan, a journalist and author of a powerful series of articles about immigrant surveillance. She covers the vast program called “intensive supervision appearance program” which purports to be “humane alternative” to immigration detention. Managing the program on behalf of ICE is BI Inc, a subsidiary of... The post 306 | Immigration and E-carceration first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:29:00

305 | The Problem of Politicization

5/27/2022
This week we return to our conversation between Baye Sylvester and Focus Initiatives’ Jok Huerta. Both formerly incarcerated in Indiana, they described the circumstances that brought them to prison in a previous episode. In this segment, they talk about the way the prison system responds to politically-engaged prisoners. When prisoners become conscious and organized, the... The post 305 | The Problem of Politicization first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

304 | Atlanta’s “Cop City”

5/20/2022
This week on Kite Line, we return to Atlanta’s proposed “Cop City”- a police training facility set to be built over a vast urban forest. People from across the city and the country have been organizing against its construction, which would make it the largest police training facility in the United States. People have been... The post 304 | Atlanta’s “Cop City” first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

303 | The USA vs. Jessica Reznicek

5/13/2022
This week, we hear the first part of the recent webinar ‘USA vs. Jessica Reznicek: fighting the criminalization of Water Protectors’. The webinar description reads: “Since the No-DAPL movement, dozens of states have passed critical infrastructure laws that increase criminal penalties for anyone taking action against destructive fossil fuel projects. In 2017, 80 Republicans and 4... The post 303 | The USA vs. Jessica Reznicek first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

302 | Not Trying to Hear No Again, with Renford Farrier

5/6/2022
In celebration of recently completing 300 consecutive episodes, we are airing some of our Kite Line crew’s favorite clips from our archive of hundreds of episodes. After we hear a round up of prison disturbances as compiled by Perilous Chronicle, we play a clip from episode 119, in which Talila Lewis (TL) describes some of... The post 302 | Not Trying to Hear No Again, with Renford Farrier first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

301 | Past and Present Struggles with Mark Cook and Renford Farrier

4/28/2022
Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing clips of our favorite moments from our archive of shows. The following story is from Mark Cook, one of my all-time favorite guests on Kite Line. In this gem, Cook, a founding member of the Walla Walla Black Panther Party, tells us the story of using... The post 301 | Past and Present Struggles with Mark Cook and Renford Farrier first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

300 | Bargaining in Bad Faith

4/22/2022
Over the upcoming weeks, we will be sharing some of our favorite moments from our archive of shows, but we encourage you to go to our website, kitelineradio.org, to browse the other 299 episodes and find some favorites of your own. On our end, we will be sharing moments that the Kite Line team have found... The post 300 | Bargaining in Bad Faith first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:29:00

299 | Eric King’s Trials

4/15/2022
Eric King is an anarchist prisoner who was arrested in September 2014 after he carried out a solidarity action to support the Ferguson Uprising. We speak again today with his lawyer, Lauren Regan, about the harsh violence and repression he has faced in prison, culminating in trumped-up charges of assaulting a guard, charges which he just defeated... The post 299 | Eric King’s Trials first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:29:00

298 | Wall of Silence

4/7/2022
Eric King is an anarchist prisoner who was arrested in September 2014 after he carried out a solidarity action in support of the Ferguson Uprising. We speak today with his lawyer, Lauren Regan, about the harsh violence and repression he has faced in prison, culminating in trumped-up charges of assaulting a guard, charges which he just defeated... The post 298 | Wall of Silence first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

297 | No Choice But Poisoned Water

3/31/2022
For our show this week, Micol Seigel talks to Abby Cuniff. Cuniff is a reporter who recently published an article about arsenic contamination in Kern Valley State Prison in California. In this conversation, they talk about the prevalence of arsenic in California’s Central Valley – including in its prisons. She also describes the impact of... The post 297 | No Choice But Poisoned Water first appeared on Kite Line Radio.

Duration:00:28:59

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