The Prison Show

  We are pleased to welcome long-time activist Joan Covici and her husband Michael Jewell into the studio to discuss their new project Con-Care Services!  Join Us!

It seems there's an increase in scams trying to dupe inmates out of money they don't have.  Attorney Brian McGiverin of the Texas Civil Rights Project along with Attorney Bill Habern will join us to discuss the latest.  We'll also discuss some cons the cons play. On a happier note we'll celebrate a wedding! Tune in!

He's been listed amongst the top 12 defense attorneys in Houston, selected as a Texas Monthly “Superlawyer”, received the “Attorney of the Year” award from the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, designated as a “Top Lawyer in Houston” and “Top Lawyer for the People” - he's also done some time as a radio personality and the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and songwriter in a rock and roll band of attorney's! Join us as we visit with Attorney David Mitcham on The Prison Show!

It's a Frist Friday so we will go to phone calls at 9:30, but first we will celebrate the wedding of Isaac and Stephanie!

Ana Yáñez-Correa, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition will join us to discuss the upcoming Sunset Review of TDCJ and solicit comments from those directly impacted... our audience! Then Lynda Greene will be in the studio to bring us up to date and share information important to incarcerated Veterans! Don't forget... Fund-drive is still underway... your support is appreciated!

We'll take a little time this week to discuss the staff, the show and KPFT as we handle a little fund raising business.

We'll kick off the show with the wedding of Leticia and Bobby and then we will welcome the Witness to Innocence Texas Freedom Ride Tour!  Among the exonerees visiting with us will be Clarence Brandley, Greg Wilhoit, Gary Drinkard, Albert Burrell, Ron Keine, Shujaa Graham, Jeremy Sheets and Dan Bright...each convicted for crimes they did not commit!  Tune in, hear their words as they campaign to raise awareness of the flaws within our system of justice!

It's a first Friday, so we'll only have 30 minutes of talk before going to the phone calls, but what a 30 minutes it'll be!! Author Michael Berryhill will be joining us to discuss his new book to be released next week, The Trials Of Eroy Brown! In April 1981, two white Texas prison officials died at the hands of a black inmate at the Ellis prison farm near Huntsville. Warden Wallace Pack and farm manager Billy Moore were the highest-ranking Texas prison officials ever to die in the line of duty. The warden was drowned face down in a ditch. The farm manager was shot once in the head with the warden's gun. The man who admitted to killing them, a burglar and robber named Eroy Brown, surrendered meekly, claiming self-defense. In any other era of Texas prison history, Brown's fate would have seemed certain: execution. But in 1980, federal judge William Wayne Justice had issued a sweeping civil rights ruling in which he found that prison officials had systematically and often brutally violated the rights of Texas inmates. In the light of that landmark prison civil rights case, Ruiz v. Estelle, Brown had a chance of being believed. The Trials of Eroy Brown, the first book devoted to Brown's astonishing defense, is based on trial documents, exhibits, and journalistic accounts of Brown's three trials, which ended in his acquittal. Michael Berryhill presents Brown's story in his own words, set against the backdrop of the chilling plantation mentality of Texas prisons. Brown's attorneys—Craig Washington, Bill Habern, and Tim Sloan—undertook heroic strategies to defend him, even when the state refused to pay their fees. The Trials of Eroy Brown tells a landmark story of prison civil rights and the collapse of Jim Crow justice in Texas. Don't miss it!!

Lynda Greene will join us as we discuss the issues facing incarcerated Veterans, and who knows... we just may have a surprise or two in store!

We'll be joined this week by Attorney Bill Habern and learn about a decision handed down Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of Austin approved an injunction blocking state parole officials from enforcing sex-offender restrictions on a parolee who has never been convicted of a sex crime. Also joining us is Brian Price, former inmate chef that prepared the final meals and author of Meals To Die For, as we discuss the decision to end a final meal for condemned prisoners. Romance reamins in the air this week and we'll celebrate the wedding of Tony & Dawn on the air officiated by Judge Dale Gorczynski. Of course, we'll have the usual mailbag, news items, and let's surely not forget, the tenacious Ms. Marta Glass.

September seems to be a busy month for weddings!  This Friday we will have the usual mailbag, and, of course, Ms. Marta, and then we will have not one, but TWO proxy marriages on the air! This week will feature Terry and Joel and Geraldine and Charles.  We will be joined by Judge Dale Gorczynski presiding over the ceremonies! On the down side, there is an execution scheduled this week, so we will, of course, be reporting the news on that and any other news of interest. Tune In!

Steven Woods was executed by the State of Texas on September 13th 2011.  This is his final interview with Ray Hill, recorded on September 7th.  The interview first aired on KPFT's Execution Watch, produced by Elizabeth Stein as Steven was being executed. Posted with permission of Ray Hill. 

Ray Hill is back to join David in the studio along with Marta Glass and Gloria Rubac for an ol' fashioned discussion around the domino table!

General discussion and then we start taking calls from the wonderful voices of people who care about people in prison at 9:30!!!