Episodes

  • The Workhouse: How to Close a Jail

    The Workhouse: How to Close a Jail
    Jul 24 2024
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    25 mins
  • The Workhouse: The Court's ATM

    The Workhouse: The Court's ATM
    Jul 17 2024
    More than half a million Americans are sitting in jail awaiting trial. And 60% of them are there because they can’t afford not to be. That’s why the Workhouse jail in St. Louis stayed so full for so long. Some people jailed there were pulled over for speeding, others learned they had outstanding warrants for probation violations. All of them owed something to the courts. In the second episode of this series, we’re taking the courts to court, to understand how the system kept The Workhouse jail full for over a century, and how Inez and the community of activists around her emptied it for good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    25 mins
  • The Workhouse: A Scorpio Walks Into a Jail

    The Workhouse: A Scorpio Walks Into a Jail
    Jul 10 2024
    Inez Bordeaux needs you to know three things: she’s a mom of four, a Scorpio, and she always gets her lick back. So when a court error sent her life into a seven year tailspin, she came out swinging on the other side, and set her sights on justice. How? By closing the jail that symbolized the system that nearly buried her: The Workhouse. In this three-part series, we’re taking you to St. Louis to meet Inez and the community of activists, lawyers, and politicians that joined together to close a notorious jail that’s almost as old as the city itself. Please take care, as this episode discusses domestic violence. You can learn more about ArchCity Defenders here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • Season 3 Trailer: Let's get into it!

    Season 3 Trailer: Let's get into it!
    Jun 26 2024
    Into the Mix is all about joy and justice in action, and this season, Ben & Jerry’s is bringing you four multi-part stories that take you beyond the news headlines, and introduce you to the real people at the heart of some of today’s greatest fights for justice. Host Ashley C. Ford is taking you to meet activists who fought to shut down a notorious jail in St. Louis, a community rising up against the destruction of their health and home in a part of Louisiana dubbed Cancer Alley, and leaders protecting voting rights and inclusion efforts in the south. Let’s get into it, beginning July 10th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    3 mins
  • 34 Cents an Hour: Prison Labor & the Exception in the 13th Amendment

    34 Cents an Hour: Prison Labor & the Exception in the 13th Amendment
    Feb 28 2024
    Johnny Perez worked hard throughout his 13 year prison sentence. He sewed sheets and facilitated classes, met demanding quotas and helped other men prepare for life on the outside. The highest wage he was ever paid was 34 cents an hour. Meanwhile, prison labor generated $14 billion last year. So why do so many people like Johnny leave prison empty handed? In this Season Two finale, we’re going back to 1865, to understand how a key exception written into the 13th Amendment paved the way for the modern prison industry. From convict leasing to prison plantations, exploited labor is part of the DNA of this country, and more than two-thirds of people behind bars in America labor throughout their incarceration. Their average day wage? Just 86 cents. But: there’s a growing movement to end the exception, and end slavery once and for all in this country. Learn more about the movement to End the Exception here, and be sure to check out Worth Rises’ incredible study on prison labor, and UNICOR’s phone bank video. You can also learn more about Johnny’s work for NRCAT here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    51 mins
  • The Price of Freedom: Cash Bail and Pretrial Detention

    The Price of Freedom: Cash Bail and Pretrial Detention
    Jan 31 2024
    When Flo was arrested in 2016, he did not expect to be wrapped into the predatory bail industry. $7,500: that was the amount the judge set for his pretrial release. “$7,500 might as well have been a million dollars to me.” As a result, Flo spent two months in jail even though he was legally innocent. Half a million Americans are in pretrial detention at any given moment, and more than 60% of them are there because they can’t afford bail. In theory, bail is supposed to be one way out of jail. So how did it become a way to trap so many people in, even when they're still legally presumed innocent? Learn more about the Pretrial Fairness Act, and support the Coalition to End Money Bond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    30 mins
  • “This is My City”: The Promise of Reparations and the Legacy of Urban Renewal

    “This is My City”: The Promise of Reparations and the Legacy of Urban Renewal
    Dec 27 2023
    Priscilla Robinson says the Southside neighborhood of Asheville, North Carolina was once a thriving, tight-knit community. She describes fruit trees and multigenerational homeowners, booming small businesses and neighbors who looked out for one another. But that all changed in 1968, when the city approved plans for “urban renewal” and displaced more than fifty percent of Asheville’s Black residents, including Priscilla and her family. Decades later, in 2020, Asheville became just the second city in the US and the first in the south to approve reparations for its Black population, and Priscilla is making sure that the harms of urban renewal aren’t forgotten as a community Reparations Commission shapes its plan. To see photos of the Southside prior to Urban Renewal, and to explore Priscilla’s research, click here. You can also learn more about the Racial Justice Coalition of Asheville here, and join us in calling for President Biden to establish a federal Reparations Commission here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • New Front Lines: How Med Students are Adapting to a Post Roe Future

    New Front Lines: How Med Students are Adapting to a Post Roe Future
    Nov 29 2023
    When 3rd year med student Megh Kumar told a mentor she’d decided to go into OB GYN, she got an unexpected piece of advice: don’t. It’s been more than a year since the Supreme Court revoked constitutional protections for abortion rights with their Dobbs decision. Since then 13 states – including Megh’s home state of Kentucky – have banned nearly all abortions. Some states have criminalized performing or abetting abortion. The effect has been chilling not only for patients who need them, but for doctors who feel it’s their medical duty to provide them. As the next generation of doctors like Megh enter this field of medicine, many are asking themselves if it’s worth it. Abortion providers are often targets for harassment and violence, and studying in a restrictive state might limit training opportunities. Data show a more than 10% decrease in residency applications to OB GYN programs in restrictive states. If fewer doctors are training to be OB GYNs, what does that mean for the rest of us? Learn more about how to advocate for abortion rights at WeTestify, and visit SisterSong.net for more information about reproductive justice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    41 mins