U.S. prisons currently house 2.3 million inmates. On this week’s media roundtable, we’ll discuss media coverage of the private prison industry, how corporations are profiting from prisoners' labor, and prison reform.
We’ll also discuss the 2001 drug decriminalization law in Portugal. In the US nearly 48 percent of people in the federal prison system are behind bars for drug crimes.
Guests:
Maurice Chammah, staff writer at The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that covers the US criminal justice system
Victoria Law, freelance journalist focusing on women’s incarceration, author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, and co-author of the forthcoming book, Your Home Is Your Prison
Susana Ferreira, freelance journalist covering development and aid, faith and charity, drug policy, and the politics of migration
Web Resources:
The Guardian: Portugal’s radical drugs policy is working. Why hasn’t the world copied it?
The Marshall Project: When Your Dad Gets Locked Up—And Then Deported
In These Times: Investigation: Corporations Are Profiting From Immigrant Detainees’ Labor. Some Say It’s Slavery.
