SEASON 3, EPISODE 10
Where the COVID-19 Pandemic Might Finally Ignite Change in the Bail Bonds System
Anthony Swain outside his home, where he is currently on house arrest. His home is being renovated to adjust to his disability. Photo By: Maria Alejandra Cardona.
11.16.20
When jails across the country began releasing thousands of people amid the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year, and mass demonstrations against police brutality brought millions out of their homes, criminal reform advocates wondered if they'd finally see significant and lasting reform. Journalist Renata Sago reports on two Florida jails that are having very different responses to the possibility of change.
SEASON 3, EPISODE 9
Where Housing, Not Jails, Is the Answer to Homelessness
Karen Downard of West Angeles Community Development Corporation. Los Angeles, California. Photo By: Courtney Coles.
11.09.20
In California, so-called quality of life laws criminalize panhandling, living in cars, and blocking sidewalks. Reporter Sarah McClure chronicles how arresting homeless individuals entangles them in a cycle of poverty and incarceration—and how three groups are breaking the cycle.
This episode talks about some troubling details, which involve gun violence. Some listeners may find it disturbing.
SEASON 3, EPISODE 8
On Tribal Land, Banishment, Rehabilitation and Re-entry Add Up to Justice
Joe Asuluk (second from left and Charles Moses (fourth form left) join other men and women from their community in Toksook Bay’s multipurpose building. Photo by Josh Corbett.
11.02.20
In Alaska, rising violent crime and substance abuse across the state have also increased incarceration rates among Native Americans. Making use of their legal sovereignty, some Alaska Native leaders issue “blue tickets,” documents that sentence offenders to legal expulsion. Journalist Emily Schwing reports on the consequences and cultural impact of banishment from Toksook Bay. Special thanks to Vanessa Lincoln for simultaneous interpretation and transcription for this episode.
SEASON 3, EPISODE 7
Where Hep C Remains Untreated for Those in Custody
Jamila Johnson is the Managing Attorney for the Promise of Justice Initiative where she leads the Jim Crow Juries Project. She is pictured here at Clay Square in New Orleans. Photo by Zelena Williams.
10.26.20
Sean Wesley knew he had Hepatitis C when he started serving his prison sentence in Louisiana, and spent years trying to get treatment. Despite an innovative arrangement between a drug manufacturer and the state's Department of Corrections, he was transferred from facility to facility, and even finished his sentence, without ever receiving proper care. Reporter Alexander Charles Adams looks into why.
SEASON 3, EPISODE 6
No Longer Waiting for Top-Down Reform
Local activist and healthcare worker Savannah Elridge pictured outside of the John P. McGovern Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Photo by Christopher Rojas.
10.19.20
Kirsten made her way out of jail and addiction with the help of a special court on the Penobscot Nation reservation in Maine. There, culture and justice work together to bypass traditional punitive measures for more restorative ones. Reporter Lisa Bartfai visits the Healing to Wellness Court to see how it all works.
SEASON 3, EPISODE 5
A Special Court Keeping Native Americans Out of Jail
Courtroom chairs set up in a circle for the Healing to Wellness session that morning. Photo by Greta Rybus.
10.12.20
Kirsten made her way out of jail and addiction with the help of a special court on the Penobscot Nation reservation in Maine. There, culture and justice work together to bypass traditional punitive measures for more restorative ones. Reporter Lisa Bartfai visits the Healing to Wellness Court to see how it all works.
Season 3, Episode 4
How the Asylum Process Became Another Carceral Matrix
Back in Guatemala, María and her niece have returned to an environment where they say their lives are in danger. Photo by Grecia Ortiz.
10.05.20
The Trump administration has issued numerous policies to systematically dismantle asylum as a legal right. They're also locking up asylum seekers for months or years, until they either win their case, are returned to their home countries, or self deport. Reporters Valeria Fernández and Jude Joffe-Block follow two asylum seekers as they endure detention, legal cases, and family separation in the US, where they sought refuge.
Thank you to Maria and Ansly for sharing their stories with us.
This episode discusses troubling details, involving violence. Some listeners may find it disturbing.
Season 3, Episode 3
Why Detroit Might Be the True Test of Whether More Cameras Make Cities Safer
Security camera on the side of the First National Building in Downtown Detroit owned by Dan Gilbert. Photo by Nick Hagen.
9.28.20
Reporter Sonia Paul takes us to Detroit, where 80% of residents are Black, and examines the tools, models and methods changing the nature of policing in the city — from the rise of live-streamed surveillance to facial recognition technology. She investigates their impact on residents, and implications for overpoliced communities of color across the country.
Season 3, Episode 2
VOTING FROM JAIL IS A RIGHT, AND NOW A REALITY IN CHICAGO
Talman Anderson votes in the Illinois presidential preference primary from the Cook County Jail. Photo by Pamela Kirkland.
9.21.20
A year ago, Illinois passed a law requiring all jails to ensure that pre-trial detainees have an opportunity to vote. Chicago’s Cook County Jail was turned into a polling place during the 2019 primaries. Sheriff Tom Dart is an enthusiastic supporter of the program. And advocates like Amani Sawari are working to ensure voters in custody are informed and prepared to vote in the upcoming election. Pamela Kirkland reports.
Season 3, Episode 1
COVID-19 Makes Deciding Who Gets Out of Jail Urgent
Cassandra Greer, center, stands with fellow supporters and protesters in front of the Cook County Jail. Photo by Olivia Obineme.
9.14.20
James Howard III was arrested this spring and sent to Chicago’s Cook County Jail a few weeks into the state's coronavirus lockdown. Crowded, unsanitary, and with little means of social distancing, the single-site jail experienced a rapid outbreak of COVID-19. Mark Betancourt reports on the unprecedented steps officials took to control the outbreak, and the urgent attempts of families to keep their loved ones safe.
70 Million’s second season won a Silver Award at the 2020 New York Festivals® Radio Awards in the Narrative/Documentary podcast category.
Season 2, Episode 10
Two Rural Counties Take Diverting Paths to Jail Reform
Alamosa County Sheriff Robert Jackson. Photo by Andrew Meeker.
09.16.19
Drug felony charges have more than doubled in Colorado as the state faces an opioid crisis. Jail admissions are on the rise in some counties while diversion efforts are proving effective in others. And some jails have also become a "dumping ground” for people with mental illness who are arrested. We go to Southern Colorado to meet two sheriffs battling the same issue—jail overcrowding—with differing results.
Season 2, Episode 9
Where texting brings people to court
Raven Gamboa receives reminders of her court date by text. Photo by Andrea Sarcos.
09.07.19
After someone is arrested, there are multiple court-ordered actions after they make bail. Often, missing any of these--especially court appearances--complicates their situation and increases their punishment. Reporter Jenny Casas goes to Palm Beach, Florida, where something as simple as texting has made a significant difference in people’s lives.
Season 2, Episode 8
A Pregnancy That Changed TExas Law, Part 2
Cat Wyndham and her mother Bonnie at their cabin in Texas. Photo: Rowan Moore Gerety.
09.02.19
If you haven’t already listened to Part 1 of this story, we suggest you do that first.
In 2013, the Texas Jail Project gets a call from Bonnie Wyndham—a mother whose daughter, Cat, is pregnant behind bars and not getting the medical care TJP has been fighting to guarantee. In this episode, we hear Cat’s story. Plus, nearly 15 years after their chance meeting in the Victoria County Jail helped launch the TJP, our reporter Rowan Moore Gerety brings Shandra Williams and founder Diane Wilson together.
season 2, episode 7
A Pregnancy That Changed Texas Law, Part 1
Shandra Williams and Diane Wilson. Photo: Deborah Valcin.
08.26.19
Shandra Williams had experienced five miscarriages by the time she and her husband Dawayne became pregnant with their son. Then she was arrested. Reporter Rowan Moore Gerety travels to Victoria, Texas, where Williams’ harrowing story of being pregnant behind bars unknowingly launched a reform movement.
Season 2, Episode 6
Comedian Felonious Munk Stands Up for Reform
Felonious Munk. Photo by Xilla Valentine.
08.12.19
Comedian Felonious Munk was among the 13,000 formerly incarcerated people whose voting rights Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe restored in 2018. 70 Million creator Juleyka Lantigua-Williams talks with Munk about the years he spent in prison, the shock of losing his freedom, and his crusade for sensible justice reform.
Season 2, Episode 5
An Open and Shut Case, Reopened
Mark Denny with a customer at his barbershop. Photo by Kunjo.
08.12.19
At 17, Mark Denny was wrongfully convicted of a rape and robbery in Brooklyn. It took nearly 30 years for that conviction to be overturned—and it might never have happened without help from the same office that prosecuted him. Reporter Sabine Jansen tells the story of the Brooklyn Conviction Review Unit, the DAs who re-investigate their colleagues’ work, and the collaboration that finally set an innocent man free.
Season 2, Episode 4
The work of closing a notorious jail
Inez Bordeaux holds up a sign while doing street outreach in north St. Louis to raise awareness about the Close the Workhouse campaign. Photo: Carolina Hidalgo.
08.05.19
Five years after Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer galvanized criminal justice reform activists in St. Louis, they're gaining serious momentum to shut down the city's notorious Workhouse jail. Reporter Carolina Hidalgo spent time with the Close the Workhouse campaign and Arch City Defenders, their supporters, and detractors.
Annotated Transcript
Season 2, Episode 3
How BAIL SHACKLES WOMEN OF COLOR
Tamiki Banks has become the sole breadwinner since her husband has been in custody for the past two years—without being convicted of any crime. Photo: Pamela Kirkland.
07.29.19
Tamiki Banks’ life was turned upside down when her husband was arrested, leaving her the sole breadwinner and caregiver to their twins. More than two years later, she’s still struggling, and he’s still in custody, even though he hasn’t been convicted of any crime. From Atlanta, Pamela Kirkland reports on the heavy burden women of color like Tamiki bear when a loved one is jailed.
Annotated Transcript
Season 2, episode 2
When Disability Requires a Different Approach
Kade Threadgill faced 5 years incarceration, until diagnosis led prosecutors to seek probation. Photo: Justin Katigbak.
07.22.19
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities, known as I/DD, are overrepresented behind bars. One reason is that police officers, lawyers, and correctional staff don’t always know how to meet their needs. Reporter Cheryl Green brings us to Oregon, where case managers translate their needs for a system that’s not set up to accommodate them -- and where the proper diagnosis is the difference between incarceration and freedom.
Season 2, Episode 1
Marching Toward Reform in New Orleans
Retired Judge Calvin Johnson has been working on reforming cash bail in New Orleans for the past decade. Photo: Cheryl Gerber.
7.15.19
For years, to fund itself, New Orleans’ criminal legal system has relied on bail, fines and fees levied on the city’s poorest. But there are signs of change on the horizon, with a groundswell of community action and two landmark federal rulings in the last year. Reporter Eve Abrams takes us inside some of the big shifts happening in the Big Easy.
Season 1, Episode 10
Are Some of the Formerly Incarcerated Owed Reparations?
Hallway at the Hayward Juvenile Assessment Center in California. Photo: Liza Veale.
10.29.18
To close out season one, we invited two legal experts, Christina Swarns, President and Attorney-in-Charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York and Scott Hechinger, Senior Staff Attorney & Dir. of Policy at the Brooklyn Defender Services, to look at what it would mean for the United States to provide financial reparations for individuals who have spent most of their lives behind bars. Moderated by 70 Million’s creator and executive producer, Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, the discussion considers current and plausible pathways to bring reparations, restitution, and other types of restorative justice to the formerly incarcerated.
Season 1, Episode 9
How New Orleans Could Set a New Course for Bail Reform
Adrian Caliste, lead plaintiff in Caliste v. Cantrell in New Orleans. Photo: Sonia Paul.
10.22.18
Reporter: Sonia Paul.
New Orleans could become the battleground for bail reform. The city has one of the highest per capita incarceration rates in the world. And most people are there because they can’t pay their bail. The current arrangement with the local bail industry gives the impression that judges there could have a financial conflict of interest when setting bail. In this episode, Sonia Paul digs into how an ongoing lawsuit, pretrial consequences of bail, and poverty, bias, and algorithms come into play.
Season 1, EPisode 8
In Miami, Jailing Fewer, Treating More
Justin Volpe, peer specialist at the Criminal Mental Health Project, delivers medication to program participants in Miami. Photo Credit: Daniel Rivero.
10.15.18
Reporters: WLRN’s Nadege Green and Daniel Rivero.
Like in much of the country, jails in Miami-Dade County double as de facto mental health facilities for people with mental health issues cycling through the criminal justice system. But Miami-Dade’s Criminal Mental Health Project has taken the lead in addressing the needs of this population. Now it is a national model for how to tackle the interplay between mental illness and criminal justice, while driving down recidivism and jailing rates in the process. This episode is a special collaboration with Miami’s WLRN radio station, whose reporters Nadege Green and Daniel Rivero meet the judge who started the program and see how counselors, peer specialists, and officers are focusing on treatment and services rather than arrests.
Season 1, Episode 7
Undocumented Immigrants Are Tethered to ICE, and Private Companies, by Ankle Monitors
Floricel Liborio Ramos in Northern California.
10.08.18.
Reporter: Ryan Katz.
A handful of companies are making millions off ankle monitors strapped to undocumented immigrants in ICE custody. The makers pitch the monitors as an alternative to being jailed, but are they simply another form of bondage? Reporter Ryan Katz looks at what life is life while wearing one of these monitors. He untangles the complicated web of ICE, immigration bail agent companies, and the attorneys fighting them.
Season 1, Episode 6
in one State, An Opioid Crisis Led Police to Start An Angel Program
Tito Rodriguez, a Care Advocate for PAARI, the Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative. Photo Credit: Maria Murriel.
10.01.18
Reporter: Maria Murriel.
In Massachusetts, Gloucester PD started an "angel program" to help people in the grip of opioid addiction get help. Instead of arresting people for opioid-related crimes, police directed them to treatment programs and resources. The angel program eventually grew into PAARI, the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative. It’s now a national program. Reporter Maria Murriel visits the original program to see how it all works.
Season 1, Episode 5
One State Is Disrupting the Pipeline from Foster Care to Jail
Will Clark on his balcony in his home. He’s been living with his resource family, the Huson’s, for the past year. Photo credit: Liza Veale.
09.24.18
Reporter: Liza Veale.
By age 17, over half of young people in foster care have already been convicted of a crime or spent a night in jail. After they age out, a quarter will go to jail or get in trouble with the law within the first two years. California is determined to keep foster youth out of jail. Reporter Liza Veale profiles two young people who are making their way out of the system, and talks with policy makers and social service workers trying to redirect the foster-care-to-prison pipeline.
Season 1, Episode 4
Putting women already in jail first
Client Advocate Catherine O’Neill (left) of Still She Rises with her client Linda Meachum. Photo credit: Nissa Rhee.
9.17.18
Reporter: Nissa Rhee
Oklahoma locks up women and girls at a higher rate than anywhere else in the US. Black mothers bear the burden of this crisis, which can curtail accessing public benefits and lower the chances of keeping their children. But a promising new public defender's office in Tulsa have found a way to change some women’s fates. Reporter Nissa Rhee goes inside a women’s jail for our story.
Season 1, episode 3
reform activists and a new D.a. Find Common Ground
A bail bonds agency welcomes business next door to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. A federal judge recently ruled the county’s bail practices unconstitutional. Photo credi: Ruxandra Guidi.
09.10.18
Reporter: Ruxandra Guidi.
Activists in Houston were galvanized by events in Ferguson in 2014 following the death of Michael Brown. First, they took to the streets in protest. Then they started organizing. Not long after, they found a kindred spirit in the most unlikely person: a candidate for the DA office. Reporter Ruxandra Guidi chronicles how activists and reformers are succeeding in cutting the jail population, diverting drug arrests, and increasing accountability for local police.
Season 1, episode 2
veterans COurts give soldiers a way back
Sharalis Canales, Outreach Specialist at the Boston Veterans Court. Photo credit: Heidi Shin.
09.03.18
Reporter: Heidi Shin.
For veterans, run-ins with the law don’t always have to mean jail time. Thanks to Veterans Court in Boston, which helps in finding treatment for PTSD, getting sober, and finding work. Reporter Heidi Shin talks to an Iraq and Afghanistan vet about his struggles with alcohol and PTSD, and his experience through the Veterans Court program. Heidi also talks to the judges, outreach specialists, and counselors about diverting veterans away from the prison pipeline.
Heidi Shin would like to give special thanks to Professor Ronald Kessler at Harvard Medical School, Elana Newman at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, Scott Swaim and Chris Deutsch at Justice for Vets, and Judge Eleanor Sinnott and the Boston Veterans Court Team.
Season 1, episode 1
Locals divided between diversion and border security
photo credit: Pima County Safety & Justice
08.27.18
Reporter: Jesse Alejandro Cottrell.
In Pima County, where Tucson is located, formerly incarcerated individuals and local government officials have joined efforts to send fewer people to jail. Meanwhile, a federal program designed to stop drug and human trafficking at the border is also sending people to jail for months over traffic violations and minor drug offenses. Reporter Jesse Alejandro Cottrell explores just how complicated it can be to reform a local criminal justice system.