Welcome to episode two of  “Over the Wall: The Abolitionist Hour with Critical Resistance.” For listeners new to Beyond Prisons or our collaboration with Critical Resistance, this is a new, regular series that premiered in September of 2023. Hosted by members of Critical Resistance’s The Abolitionist Editorial Collective, “Over the Wall” discusses articles and key interventions made by Critical Resistance’s cross-wall, bilingual newspaper, The Abolitionist.  This episode—dedicated to Critical Resistance co-founder and long-standing member Masai Ehehosi—focuses on Issue 40 of The Abol ..read more

Josh Davidson and Leslie James Pickering from the Certain Days collective join the show to talk about 2024’s Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar and the work of their collective. We previously spoke with Josh and other folks from the collective back in 2020 and we encourage you to go listen to that episode if you haven’t heard it yet.  Josh and Leslie spoke to us about the works included in the 2024 calendar, how they’ve navigated increasingly oppressive mail policies to distribute it, Josh’s upcoming book with political prisoner Eric King, the impact that focusing thei ..read more

This is the first episode of  our new series titled “Over the Wall: The Abolitionist Hour with Critical Resistance.” This will be a regular series on Beyond Prisons, hosted by members of Critical Resistance’s The Abolitionist Editorial Collective, in which they will discuss articles and key interventions made by Critical Resistance’s cross-wall, bilingual newspaper, The Abolitionist. The first episode of this series focuses on Issue 39 of The Abolitionist and is titled, “Beyond Abortion: Reproductive Justice and Abolitionist Struggle.”  This episode is hosted by Molly Porzig and Dyla ..read more

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains discussions of sexual violence. Kim and Brian discuss Mark E. Kann’s “Penitence for the Privileged: Manhood, Race, and Penitentiaries in Early America.” This essay is a chapter in the book Prison Masculinities, edited by Don Sabo, Terry A. Kupers, and Willie London. Our wide-ranging conversation examines the role of prisons in early America as a tool for sorting who was and was not American, which was understood exclusively as a white male citizen. We also discuss manhood, militarism, and self-discipline in the service of “liberty,” the logic behind prote ..read more

For this episode, Kim sat down with Jeanie Austin, a Bay Area librarian and academic who focuses on library services for incarcerated people, and Sarah ball, a New York City public librarian working inside jails and prisons providing access to books and information for criminalized and incarcerated people and their families. We explore the multifaceted role of prison libraries, and the challenges faced by prison librarians in providing access to information and literature within the confines of the correctional system. We delve into the delicate balance between offering valuable services to in ..read more

In this follow-up to our six-year anniversary episode, Kim shares some of what she has been going through in recent years. We recommend you listen to that previous episode before listening to this one. You can support Kim on Cash App at https://cash.app/$BeyondPrisons Credits Created and hosted by Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein Website & volunteers managed by Victoria Nam Support Beyond Prisons Visit our website at beyond-prisons.com Support our show and join us on Patreon. Check out our other donation options as well. Please listen, subscribe, and rate/review our podcast on Apple Podcast ..read more

Brian Kaneda and Woods Ervin join the show to tell us about the Close California Prisons Campaign. This campaign is led by the statewide coalition known as Californians United For A Responsible Budget (CURB), pressuring Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Correction to close prisons across the state.  Last year, CURB released The People’s Plan for Prison Closures, which they describe as “a visionary report that outlines the failures of California’s bloated carceral system, and offers bold, community-centered solutions for our jail problem.” After setting the stage and e ..read more

This is the second episode in our Creative Interventions series, where we explore this fantastic and practical toolkit for stopping interpersonal violence and speak with some of the people whose organizing efforts directly informed it. We speak with Mimi and Shira Hassan about the basics of interpersonal violence as outlined in the Creative Interventions Toolkit. If you’ve got the toolkit at home, which you can purchase from AK press or access for free at creative-interventions.org, we’re touching on some of the topics in Section 2: Some Basics Everyone Should Know. There’s a lot more in this ..read more

The following talk was delivered by Dr. Kim Wilson at the DecARcerate Arkansas 2022 conference in Little Rock. The conference was an opportunity for abolitionist and other organizers to come together to listen as speakers from around the state and the country talked about their work. Kim interviewed organizers about their experience with boundary setting in movement spaces, and what they said illuminates a deeper problem that we seldom hear addressed, but that is nonetheless, important for liberation movements. As the mother of two sons currently sentenced to LWOP; as an organizer that provide ..read more

This is the first episode of our Creative Interventions series.  In this series, we will explore the Creative Interventions Toolkit, which provides tools, resources, and a model for community interventions in interpersonal violence. We’ll go section-by-section and talk to some of the folks whose work served as the source material for this project. You can find digital versions of the Creative Interventions Toolkit or purchase a physical copy by visiting www.creative-interventions.org. According to their website, “Creative Interventions provides vision, tools and resources to help anyone a ..read more