Can diverse groups join to reform prisons?

Can people from different political backgrounds come together to work for prison reform? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about various efforts to reform the prison system in the US. Today, 2.3 million prisoners are in US jails, costing more than $44 billion. In California, more money is spent on prisons than education. What will it take to reform the system? Join us at 10 or email feedback@yourcallradio.org. How are groups with different political backgrounds joining forces? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Pat Nolan is president of Justice Fellowship, a Christian-based organization that works for criminal justice reform.

Robert Perkinson, assistant professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaii and the author of Texas Tough: The Rise of a Prison Empire

Tim Cavanaugh, Reason Magazine managing editor

Click to Listen: Can diverse groups join to reform prisons?

What explains the increase in women prisoners in the US?

On the next Your Call, we'll talk about why there are so many women behind bars today. A documentary film now in theaters, called Crime After Crime, shows one woman--Deborah Peagler--in her journey through a broken criminal justice system. Women today are incarcerated at 11 times the rate they were in 1977. What kind of policy reform could change this trend? Join us at 10 or email feedback@yourcallradio.org. How do poverty, abuse, and drugs factor into the imprisonment of women? Is it time to reform sentencing laws? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Joshua Safran, attorney for Deborah Peagler, featured in film, Crime After Crime

Deirdre Wilson, program director for the California Coalition of Women Prisoners

Bea Smith, former prisoner and friend of Deborah Peagler

Click to Listen: What explains the increase in women prisoners in the US?

What is the best way to integrate prisoners back into society?

On the next Your Call, we'll rebroadcast a conversation we had recently about re-entry after prison. A recent Supreme Court ruling ordered California to drastically reduce its prison population. It remains to be seen how this ruling will be implemented. Just last year California's recidivism rate was almost 70 percent. What explains that high number? And what does it take to reintegrate people behind bars back into the community in a healthy way? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Guests:
Linda Evans, organizer with All of Us Or None coalition and Legal Services for Prisoners with Children

Susan Burton, founder and executive director of A New Way of Life Re-Entry Project

Ramiro Mejia, resident employee at San Francisco's Delancey Street Foundation

Click to Listen: What is the best way to integrate prisoners back into society?

Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, we'll discuss coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on California's overcrowded prisons and Sacramento Bee's ongoing investigation of the California National Guard. We'll also talk about continuing mass protests in Spain. We'll be joined by McClatchy's Mike Doyle, Sacramento Bee's Charles Piller and Iberosphere's Guy Hedgecoe joins us from Madrid. Join us live at 10 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. Where did you see the best reporting this week? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Mike Doyle covers the U.S. Supreme Court for McClatchy

Charles Piller, investigative reporter with Sacramento Bee

Guy Hedgecoe, co-editor of Iberosphere.com, a website that offers news, comment, and analysis on Spain and Portugal

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

What should juvenile justice look like?

On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with David Muhammed. He's just taken over as the head of the Alameda County Probation Department. He spent time in jail when he was young, so he has first hand experience with the system. He has ambitious plans to completely transform the system, specifically the treatment of youth. But is it possible to implement reforms from within? Join us at 10 or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. What would you change? It's Your Call with Holly Kernan and you.

Guests:
David Muhammed, chief probation officer of Alameda County

James Bell, founder and executive director of the W. Haywood Burns Institute

Click to Listen: What should juvenile justice look like?

Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, we'll discuss media eulogies of Richard Holbrooke, the top U.S. Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan who passed away earlier this week. We will also talk about the major inmate Protests at Six Georgia Prisons. What explains the lack of coverage? We'll be joined by Guardian's Jonathan Steele, Sacramento Bee's Charles Piller, and Black Agenda's Bruce Dixon. Where did you see the best reporting this week? Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Charles Piller, an investigative reporter with Sacramento Bee

Bruce A. Dixon, the managing editor of Black Agenda Report

Jonathan Steele, a columnist and roving foreign correspondent with Guardian of London

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, President Obama announced plans to change the military mission in Iraq from combat to support. How did the media cover his promise? We'll also discuss the Sacramento Bee's investigation that found widespread suppression of inmates' rights. And we'll talk about the launch of KALW's The Informant, which focuses on criminal justice coverage. We'll be joined by the Sacramento Bee's Charles Piller, New Internationalist's Hadani Ditmars and KALW's Rina Palta. What grabbed your attention this week? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Charles Piller, staff reporter with Sacramento Bee
Rina Palta, a reporter with KALW News, Cross Currents
Hadani Ditmars, a co-editor of New Internationalist and author of Dancing in the No Fly Zone

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

How have slavery and racism influenced our penal system?

How have the legacies of slavery and racism influenced our current penal system? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with two authors who've written about the history and modern day realities of the U.S. prison system. The U.S. imprisons more people than any other country in the world--roughly 2.4 million are behind bars on a given day. What do the soaring rates, non-rehabilitative methods, and racist, classist patterns of incarceration in this country say about American society? Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. Does mass incarceration put democracy at risk? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Robert Perkinson--author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire
Michelle Alexander--author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Click to Listen: How have slavery and racism influenced our penal system?

What Makes Women Prisoners Different?

What makes women prisoners different? California is home to the world's largest women's prison, and the women are the fastest growing segment of the prison population. Why are so many more women going to prison? What is the impact of women's imprisonment on our communities? And are the strategies for cutting women's prison populations different, too?

Join us live at 11 a.m. or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. What makes women prisoners different? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Beverly Henry, longtime member of the California Coalition for Women Prisons and Justice Now, an advocacy organization for women prisoners, who was recently released from prison.

Hafsa Al-amin, development director for the California Coalition for Women Prisoners.

Victoria Law, author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women.

Click to Listen: What Makes Women Prisoners Different?

Your Call 121108 Beyond Prisons

After 30 years of "lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key", does California's fiscal crisis mean prison reform's time has come? On the next Your Call we'll discuss the financial and moral problem posed by prisons. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation consumes about 1 of every $10 in state general fund spending and our prisons are at double capacity. What other models are there for maintaining the peace? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests: Raquel Marisqual in Watsonville
Sr. Consultant for Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Site Development for the Annie E. Casey Foundation

Elaine Enns
Mediator & educator about restorative justice and conflict transformation. She has worked most recently at the Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies at Fresno Pacific University and the Center for Restorative Justice Works in Los Angeles.

Fernando Geraldo in Santa Cruz
Director of the Juvenile division Santa Cruz Probation department. Not the expert in the adult world.

Click to Listen: Beyond Prisons