Image: DeafInPrison.com
The Felix Interview series is really something that you need to see. Although it’s only been available to us for a few weeks, it is the culmination of several years of work by James Ridgeway and Pat Bliss.
In fact, Felix’s prison interview is a monumental labor. Technically, it has involved video editing and compression, cross-country file sharing, a Sign language interpreter, audio editing, mixing and post production – as well as the creation and coding of the transcripts. During the course of this week, I will be adding captions for our Deaf and HOH readers – and the remaining 6 installments will all be captioned.
We’re all working our :)s off, but believe me – it’s well worth it. This might well be the best thing we’ve ever presented on DeafInPrison.com.
In the meantime however, we still have other things we need to post. Here are 4 articles that have come to my attention over the past few days.
http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/destroying-the-soul/
This is an article published by PrisonMovement’s Weblog – taken from the Washington Post – about solitary confinement. DeafInPrison is very much concerned with solitary confinement due to the parallels between this horrific and draconian punishment, and the plight of Deaf inmates. Deaf inmates are often housed in environments where there are no other Deaf, and where the guards and staff are not trained in how to communicate with the Deaf. This is in essence a form of solitary confinement within the crowded general population.
Furthermore, since the behavior of a Deaf inmate – who is unable to understand the rules – is viewed as disobedience, they are often placed in actual physical solitary confinement. Many have been thus confined for years and even decades.
This is a reader’s letter and comments to another WaPo article on solitary confinement.
http://prisonmovement.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/its-been-18-years-now-its-time-for-justice/
Throughout the Blogosphere, there are numerous sites that deal with the Justice system and Penology in the U.S. and around the World. PrisonMovement’s Weblog is one of the best. This story is a call to action for a young woman, Sara Kruzan. Sara was sold into sexual slavery as a minor, and eventually won her freedom by killing her pimp. She has been in prison for the crime, for 18 years now.
Links are provided in the article, as well as a template letter and some other hints and tips for what you can do to help this victim of a broken judicial system.
This is an op-ed, also from the Washington Post. It discusses the moral question of life without parole sentencing for juvenile offenders.
Well, that’s pretty much what I’ve got for you for today. Please remember to check out our video series of Felix Garcia in his prison interview. These are powerful and disturbing pieces, and they represent the hard work and level of commitment of all those involved with DeafInPrison.com.