A Texas Prison's Radio Station Helps Incarcerated Men Build Community

Consider This from NPR

NPR

News, Daily News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The men on death row in Allan B. Polunsky Unit, a maximum security prison in southeastern Texas, spend most of their time in solitary confinement, isolated from each other. Now, a prison radio station is giving them a sense of community and a way to be heard.

Keri Blakinger talks about how it started and the impact it's had. Read her piece "The Prisoner-Run Radio Station That's Reaching Men on Death Row" at The Marshall Project.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, Polonsky.
0:02.4	The LNB Polonsky unit, a maximum security prison in South Eastern Texas, is home to one
0:07.9	of the country's most restrictive death roast.
0:11.3	Welcome back to another week of lights around table.
0:13.7	The nearly 200 men on death row there spend most of their time in solitary confinement, isolated
0:19.6	from the rest of the prison population.
0:21.4	Are we on a way?
0:22.4	Yeah, we are.
0:23.4	We are.
0:24.4	While we're back in tails from the pit.
0:26.2	They can't go to classes or watch television, but they can listen and contribute to 106.5
0:33.4	FM The Tank.
0:35.2	Time to wake up.
0:38.3	The world is awake and waiting on you.
0:42.1	What are you going to present today?
0:43.8	So this morning.
0:44.8	Consider this.
0:46.3	Research has long shown that solitary confinement can have devastating physical and mental health
0:51.6	impacts.
0:52.6	Coming up, how a prison radio station is giving inmates who can't leave their cells, a
0:58.3	sense of community, and a way to be heard.
1:03.8	From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.