In this May 20, 2009 file photo, several hundred inmates crowd the gymnasium at San Quentin prison in San Quentin, Calif.

The Prison Strike in Context

Midday on WNYC | Sep 11, 2018

Author and John Jay College professor Baz Dreisinger discusses the nationwide prison strike that began on August 21 and ended on September 9. Dreisinger discusses how a violent riot in a South Carolina sparked the strike, how inmates from prisons across the country coordinated with each other from behind bars, and how one of the organizers’ key demands includes an end to the practice of forcing prisoners to work for low or no wages, a common practice that critics refer to as “modern slavery” because it exploits a loophole in the 13th amendment.

On September 13 Baz Dreisinger will be at Pen America's Break Out: Voices from the Inside 2018. She will be participating in ISSUE Project Room (22 Boerum Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11201)

This segment is guest hosted by Duarte Geraldino. 

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