Four years in the making, our 10-part audio documentary reveals the untold story of how Gilbert Bao helped lead a group of incarcerated men who reshaped rehabilitation in California prisons — before and after serving a life sentence. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.
Child Safety Reporting, Parental Rights and More with Corey Best
On this week’s podcast we dig into a major decline in the number of youth charged as adults in the justice system, and some child welfare legislation that could include the first federal requirement for legal counsel for parents and children.
Guest Interview Details
Corey Best of Mining for Gold joins us to discuss his own experience losing parental rights as a young father, mandatory reporting and what we could differently with information that comes in from the child protection hotline.
The Criminalization of Black Youth, with Kris Henning
On this week’s podcast we discuss a new campaign to end fines and fees in the juvenile justice system, more problems with privatization in child welfare, and the estimated 18,000 young adults who could age out of foster care this week.
Guest Interview Details
Georgetown Law professor Kris Henning has been a public defender for youth in Washington, D.C. for more than two decades, and has had exactly four white clients in that time. Henning joins us to discuss her experience representing youth, and her new book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Reading Room
Advocacy Groups Launch Nationwide Campaign to End Juvenile Court Fines and Fees|
https://bit.ly/3u7PVVtDebt Free Justice Campaign
https://debtfreejustice.org/Nebraska Inspector General Recommends Ending Foster Care Contract with Saint Francis
https://bit.ly/3uajUfuNext Week, Thousands of Foster Youth Will Age Out on the Same Day
https://bit.ly/3ktAPXhYouth Voice Webinar: What Did Your Mental Health Do for You (or to You)?
Thursday, Oct. 7 10amP/1pmE
Register for free! Can’t make it? Register and we’ll send you a recording!
https://imprintnews.org/webinars
Can California Erase Racism at Trial?
Description: On this week’s podcast we cover a lawsuit over equal support for relative caregivers in Ohio, LGBTQ youth in foster care, how foster homes are doing during the coronavirus pandemic, and New Jersey’s stimulus relief for older youth in care.
Guest Interview Details
We’re joined by California State Assemblymember Ash Kalra about his California Racial Justice Act, which was recently signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom and attempts to provide what might be an unprecedented check on racial bias during trials and at sentencing.
Unless Death Wants To Fight
This season, our stories have centered mostly around criminal justice — people caught up in violence, courts and prison. But in Episode Six, we explore how the law intersects with what can be the most intimate and difficult decision a person ever makes — if they get the chance: choosing how to die.
Death is likely the most difficult thing we will all face sooner or later. But mourning the death of a loved one can be harder still when they’ve decided to die. And then… there’s coming to terms with the fact that you supported this choice.
And this concludes Season One! Thanks to everyone who’s listened and shared their stories and reviews. Show notes: https://grayareapodcast.com/episode-06-unless-death-wants-to-fight/
A Gray Winter’s Tale
Welcome to Gray Area’s special year-end episode. As the days reach their shortest and coldest extremes here in the northern hemisphere, humans of every culture find reasons to come together and celebrate holidays, traditions, and community.
So for this episode, we reached out to three people who’ve been separated from their communities, whether by their own actions, by force or by happenstance. We asked them what they do to reclaim and redefine the spirit of community in the face of imprisonment, disaster, racism or displacement. Show notes: https://grayareapodcast.com/episode-05-a-gray-winters-tale/
Lou
Lou Hammonds started out like lots of kids — playing Little League with neighbors and classmates, getting good grades and attending summer school, just because he wanted to.
But by the time he was a teenager, Lou was pursuing a career as a criminal. He built a life around trying to become the “worst of the worst.” His goal was to keep up with other young men who had committed multiple homicides. The law caught up with him, of course, and he wound up with a life sentence in a supermax prison.
That’s not the end of Lou’s story, though. Something unexpected happened inside that remote prison’s walls that made Lou change — for good. Show notes: https://grayareapodcast.com/episode-04-lou/
Reynaldo in Yaqui Land
How can two brothers turn out so utterly different? Born 15 years apart to different fathers, Roy and Reynaldo found very different paths as they grew up. By the time he reached adulthood, Reynaldo decided he’d had enough of his brother’s criminal antics. After Roy died in prison, it took Reynaldo years before he was ready to try to make sense of the life his brother led — in fact, it took a dream.What we learned on this journey was more than just the shocking truth about Roy — we would uncover a connection to legendary criminals and folk heroes. We’d also dig deeply into the indigenous struggles of North America.
For Reynaldo what started as a search for insight about his brother turned into a journey that spanned cultures, nations and centuries — a journey of discovery about the ongoing struggle for a sense of place and self in the American West. Show notes: https://grayareapodcast.com/episode-03-reynaldo-in-yaqui-land/
Cheryl
How do you forgive the unforgivable? Cheryl Ward-Kaiser leads us down a path of shocking twists and turns. Her story contains detailed descriptions of violence, so it may not be appropriate for everyone
But by the end, we know you’ll understand why Cheryl’s story inspires us and needs to be heard. Show notes: https://grayareapodcast.com/episode-02-cheryl/
Gary
What makes a man decide to switch sides and buck everything he’s always stood for?
Episode One is the surprisingly tender story of an ace prosecutor who goes from putting murderers and child abusers behind bars to — yikes — defending them. With some Gray Area twists and turns along the way, of course. Show notes: https://grayareapodcast.com/episode-01-gary/
Introducing Grey Area
Gray Area tells the stories of people who are dealing with this whole thing we call justice, people who are trying to get beyond labels of right and wrong or good and evil to get to something bigger – redemption. Gray Area deals with some pretty heavy stuff, but it also lightens up when you least expect it.
Ultimately, here’s the question we’re hoping to answer: If we don’t believe in those extremes of good and evil, what DO we believe in? Show notes: https://grayareapodcast.com/episode-00-introducing-gray-area/
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