Eli Wirtschafter

I’ve been visiting prisons for seven years, and I can tell you that prison is designed to dehumanize. Numbers instead of names. Gray, tasteless food. Baggy, monochrome uniforms. Concrete walls and barbed wire. These are the visuals of prison. They serve to humiliate the people confined inside, and to alienate them from the officers who watch over them. These visuals are a constant reminder that incarcerated people are considered less-than. These are the same visuals we are usually served in the media.

KALW is looking for a few individuals to join a new community advisory board for our prison radio project. We are particularly focused on including people who have experienced incarceration, and others who have been involved in the carceral system. The board’s role will be to provide us guidance on navigating interpersonal and institutional situations, as well as give occasional editorial and programmatic feedback.

This past spring, Alma Vasquez Garcia and her son Angel were killed by a car while crossing the street in East Oakland. Family Laundry honored the victims in a ceremony where City of Oakland representatives made a big announcement. "If the school that my white kids went to had these kinds of crashes, the city would spend more money and resources to build improvements." - Ryan Russo, Oakland's Director for the Department of Transportation Click the play button above to listen to the conversation.