Prison Radio Audio Feed

This is a public service announcement. My name is Jason Goudlock and I'm an Ohio political prisoner and supporter of the National Black Newspaper, the San Francisco Bay View: a small, independently all progressive newspaper that has for over 40 years provided its readers with critical and insightful news about the lives of Black people. Unfortunately, however, due to the proliferation of the digital distribution of news on the worldwide web, the print edition of the Bay View Newspaper is now under threat of being discontinued, which is something that must not be allowed to happen. With this being said, I humbly ask that you—if you can—please make a tax-deductible charitable donation to the Bay View so that it can continue to report and deliver the news that's important to its readers.  Thank you for your time and please share these downloadable recordings with other radio and social media platforms. Tax deductible donations to the San Francisco Bay View can be made by contacting them at area code (415) 671-07

"We Got Tablets." Yesterday, October 1st, we were issued free tablets by JPay, a company owned by Securus Technologies. I remember when the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision first announced in 2008 that prisoners in its corrections facilities were going to receive free tablets, there was an uproar. People were sensationalized in the move and typically not considering the facts. People were upset because we prisoners were receiving quote, "free tablets," end quote. What Securus Technology is doing isn't an act of benevolence. It's shrewd capitalism, and the state is going to benefit from tax revenue. I've been using this free tablet, and it offers nothing. For me it's a novelty because I've been in prison almost 23 years and never ever had the opportunity to have a tablet or a smartphone. But these JP [inaudible] don't have wi-fi and we must pay for most of the products offered through JPay. We already make slave wages and our families already have to pay other costs associated

"If I Were A Rich White Kid." In 84 days, December 24th, Christmas Eve, I'll be 40 years old. Wow. 40 years old. From 17 to 40, I've been in prison. That's 23 years behind prison walls. From a boy to a man, in prison. I grew up into adulthood, in prison. I have no adult experiences outside of prison. None. Those of you who listen to and follow me regularly, I would hope there are a few of you, you already know my story. While everyone's talking about criminal justice reforms affecting only nonviolent offenders, guys like me get ignored and passed over. I've done more than enough time. 23 years, and I didn't so much as scratch anyone. I didn't even get much money. The big banks responsible for the 2008 housing crisis did more real harm than I did. Ask how many of the greedy bankers responsible for stealing billions of dollars from Americans went to prison. Only one. The rest received bonuses. After a while you can't call what is happening to me justice. A Black teenager can be thrown into prison for stealing a

Trent's Freedom Walk (1:42) Mumia Abu-Jamal

When Impeachment Isn't Enough (1:48) Mumia Abu-Jamal

John Paul Stevens on Kavanaugh (2:19) Mumia Abu-Jamal

"99 Days: A Call For Support." My clemency application has been pending now for 21 months. I thought Governor Cuomo would have made his decision on it during the holidays last year. Instead, he made his clemency decisions on New Year's Day. And I wasn't among none of them. I guess that's a good thing because I didn't get a denial. It means the governor's office is still considering my application, maybe. What I know is that I have 99 days to build enough public support to get the governor's attention. It's the only way to increase the likelihood of me getting clemency. As I said before, clemency is just as much a political decision as it is a moral one. If the public support granting me clemency after I spent 22 years in prison—more than half my life—when I didn't hurt, harm, or injury anyone; and when I diligently worked to better myself and serve as a positive role model for others, especially young prisoners; then the governor is much more likely to grant me clemency. There's really no reason for him not t

"Where's Governor Cuomo?" New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo once said that New York state will be the progressive beacon for the nation. That's all well and good, governor. But when it comes to New York state prisons, respectfully, that is a broken promise. New York State prisons are some of the most reactionary in the nation. I mean, Alabama has a more progressive prison system than New York. California has been progressively pursuing prison reform. All around the country other states are getting it, but New York is not. Where are you at Governor Cuomo? I have written to you several times about the abuse and mistreatment I and other prisoners suffer at the hands of belligerent correction guards who verbally and physically assault us. But your office never respond. Acting Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci, who has been in that acting position almost your entire tenure as governor, doesn't do nothing. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has become great at suppression and

"Kim Kardashian West: The People's Champ."The other day, I saw Kim Kardashian West on The View and couldn't help but be impressed. Not because she's a beautiful reality TV star, but because she's a serious advocate for criminal justice and prison reform. I won't lie, I wasn't a fan at first. When people kept telling me how Kim was doing this or that to get people out of prison who didn't deserve to be there any longer, I was like, so? There are those of us who have been on the front lines of this struggle for years, but we don't get any real recognition. What convinced me about Kim's sincerity, however, is the fact she's using her platform to bring light to the inherent racism within our criminal justice system. She has stepped up to fund the two Black female lawyers, Brittany K. Barnett and MiAngel Cody, who worked to get Alison Johnson and 17 more people out of prison. When no one else would fund their work.  On top of all of that, Kim is actually studying to get a law degree and become a lawyer so that she

Big Pharma: Big Money = No Blame (3:09) Mumia Abu-Jamal

Okay, my name is Edward Sistrunk AKA Omar Askia Ali. A commutation seminar was held at SCI Coal Township with 140 prisoners. Some with life sentences and others with [inaudible] sentences. The secretary of the Board of Pardon, Brian Flood, along with Samantha Colton Johnson, who was with the Lieutenant Governor's office, and George Trudel, a commuted lifer after 31 years in prison, who also can be contacted at the Lieutenant Governor's office, and Duane Hackett, who is a Department of Corrections legislative liaison, all addressed to prisoners in attendance. This process for commutation was just about [inaudible] board as the commuted life sentence prisoner that committed a sensational crime exactly 25 years ago. However, Secretary Flood, and you can see an article on Secretary Flood in the Philadelphia Daily News pertaining to Mr. Flood, Monday the eighth, 2019 page 11. It gives an insightful perspective on Mr. Flood. What is perhaps most remarkable about Mr. Flood's appointance is his personal experience wi

Politics 2019 or The Hope Game (2:13) Mumia Abu-Jamal

After 9/11 (2:24) Mumia Abu-Jamal

"Stressing Out But Still In The Fight." I told you all in my last commentary how Corrections Sergeant Reynolds here at Great Meadow singled me out of line, orders me into the Sergeant's Bunker and begins to yell at and berate me for essentially exercising myFfirst Amendment right to freedom of speech. He threatens me and then has two correction guards ransack my cell property while I was at programs, leaving my property in disarray: my legal papers, schoolwork, college books, letters, clothes, and food items were scattered on the floor and pile on top of my bed. That was three days ago. My cell property is still disorganized. This is so very frustrating because I'm a full-time college student with reading, essays, and lab assignments to complete. Plus I have three federal lawsuits and one state action I am forced to prosecute on my own because I cannot afford a lawyer. With my typewriter broke, doing my school and legal work is also very slow and cumbersome. On top of all of that, I have 11 young prisoners un

"The quality of moral character." Today, September 4th, 2019, I was singled out of line on the way to morning chow by Sergeant Reynolds who is the grievance sergeant who screens prisoner complaints submitted to the inmates grievance office. He pulls me into an office known as the Sergeant Bunker. He starts yelling at and berating me about a letter I wrote to Captain Fisher expressing my concerns about the facility administration's impending change to the evening rec phone procedure. Sergeant Reynolds yelled, quote, "Who the fuck do you think you are writing to a captain with suggestions about the phones? We do what the fuck we want here. You think so highly of yourself, you feel you can write a captain. Who the fuck do you think you are? You're a fucking inmate. Next time you write a captain or anybody else, I will do more to you than just having all your shit piled on top of your fucking bed. Now get the fuck out of here," end quote. When I returned to myself after my morning program, my property was ransack

"Should The U.S. Adopt A New Flag," by Ohio political prisoner Jason Goudlock. After Adolf Hitler's murderous military force was defeated in 1945, the infamous red, white, and black swastika-bearing German flag was abolished along with all Nazi symbols. In 1949, the newly formed post-World War II countries of East Germany and West Germany both adopted the national flag colors in black, red and gold. Following Hitler's campaign to exterminate Jews, the Nazi flag was an image of horror for most Germans. Imagine the worldwide condemnation if the newly formed countries of East and West Germany had decided to adopt the Nazi flag with its black swastika. How dare do the people of the United States consider it appropriate to fly the tri-colored red, white, and blue stars-and-stripes flag—which carried to existence during the eighteenth century when the U.S. was decimating the sacred lands and cultures of Native Americans and trafficking in enslaved humans from Africa. Today, the people of a country that considers it

"Hip Hop Radio's Profiteers and Enablers," by Ohio political prisoner, Jason Goudlock. During rap music's infancy in the early 1980s, nearly all the poetic rap songs, the boom bap music, played on hip hop radio stations, have lyrics about social struggles within communities of color, or events like basketball games and neighborhood parties. But not today. Now, most rap songs on the FCC-regulated airways of urban radio glorify the criminal lifestyle, the drug dealers, pimps, robbers, and murderers. Gangsta rappers, hip hop radio stations, large corporations, and even small businesses, are all guilty of promoting these invitations and justifications for mass incarceration. The gangsta rappers, and the audience of hip-hop radio, being overwhelmingly African-American, it's ironic that African-American leaders are silent about rap songs that glorify the violence often tearing our Black neighborhoods apart. When unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, African America

Greetings comrades. This piece is entitled "We Buckin' Amerikkka" by Comrade Malik. Mental prisons have proliferated alongside the literal ones. Who among us today can claim to be beyond the psychological reach of the myriad fantasies constructed by capital? Though we aspire to the mantle of anti-capitalism. Now this is a question posed by scholar and activist Joseph G Ramsay, in an essay he wrote entitled "Revolutionary Relatability: Assata: An Autobiography of a Site of Radical Teaching and Learning." Disappeared in a special edition of "Socialism and Democracy," edited by Mumia Abu-Jamal and professor Johanna Hernan- Hernandez. Comrades, I'd like you to take the time to really listen and hear me right now. There are those among the ranks of the oppressors who thought that releasing me from the custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice would transform me into a docile, compliant, happy slave. But how could that be? How could the oppressors subject me to nearly 12 years of degradation, dehumanizati

Dorian (1:34) Mumia Abu-Jamal

"The Great Contradiction." Last week, I was in my aggression replacement training, A-R-T, program that the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision mandate certain prisoners to take, regardless if we need it or not. The program is largely ineffective in this prison setting. Guys take it only because they have to. But when we're surrounded by violence and aggressive prisoners and prison guards, how effective can aggressive replacement training be? Many of these prison guards need such training themselves. I want to read a poem I ironically got in my A-R-T class. It's not a part of the official curriculum, but it explains the great contradiction of prison. The poem is entitled just that: quote, "The Great Contradiction," end quote. We want them to be responsible, so we take them away, all responsibility. We want them to be positive and constructive, so we degrade them and make them useless. We want them to be trustworthy, so we put them where there is no trust. We want them to be nonvi