State of Justice: The Criminal Legal System in Eastern Kentucky

Series produced by Rae Garringer

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This series on carceral issues in eastern Kentucky was produced by Rae Garringer and Amelia Kirby with support from the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and a grant from Vera Institute of Justice.

This series on carceral issues in eastern Kentucky was produced by Rae Garringer and Amelia Kirby with the support of the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky and a grant from Vera Institute of Justice. The pieces were produced between July 2020-April 2021 and aired on WMMT 88.7fm out of Whitesburg, KY and WEKU 88.9fm out of Richmond, KY.


20 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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In 1966 The U.S. Department of Labor established The Federal Bonding Program to Fidelity Bonds for what they call “at-risk" and "hard-to-place" job...

  • Added: Apr 27, 2021
  • Length: 03:29
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2020 was, ALOT, to say the least. From the Covid-19 pandemic, to international protests in defense of Black lives and calls for changes to policing...

  • Added: Apr 27, 2021
  • Length: 03:48
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A new online tool, developed by the Vera Institute of Justice, makes county-specific data on jail budget spending available for each county in Kent...

  • Added: Apr 27, 2021
  • Length: 04:16
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Since 2018 a group of formerly incarcerated people and their allies have been organizing across the state of Kentucky, to get out the vote, and to ...

  • Added: Apr 27, 2021
  • Length: 03:09
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According to a report published in June 2020 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a substantial portion of the U.S. prison population is stron...

  • Added: Apr 27, 2021
  • Length: 04:24
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In the summer of 2020, protests swept the nation and the world, in response to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And organiz...

  • Added: Apr 27, 2021
  • Length: 08:24
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Over the past 10 years the United States has cut youth incarceration in half. That’s according to the The Sentencing Project - a D.C. based researc...

  • Added: Apr 22, 2021
  • Length: 11:55
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Conversations about criminal justice reform and abolition are taking place across the United States. Sparked by organizing and protests in respons...

  • Added: Apr 21, 2021
  • Length: 07:16
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National conversations about criminal justice reform and abolition have swept the nation in recent years, including calls to end pretrial incarcera...

Bought by KICI Iowa City


  • Added: Apr 21, 2021
  • Length: 09:54
  • Purchases: 1
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Domestic and intimate partner violence are strongly linked to incarceration of women, and queer and trans people in the U.S. In this piece we dig ...

  • Added: Apr 13, 2021
  • Length: 08:27
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When many people think about rural county jails they don’t think about the federal government. But jails across the United States enter into contr...

  • Added: Apr 09, 2021
  • Length: 12:45
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Despite national trends towards decarceration, Kentucky continues to have one of the highest incarceration rates in the country. The result, is th...

  • Added: Apr 08, 2021
  • Length: 09:26
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The 2021 Kentucky Legislative Session is in full swing, and criminal justice reform advocates statewide are watching the progress of the Dignity Bi...

  • Added: Feb 24, 2021
  • Length: 06:00
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There are a variety of criminal justice reform bills up for consideration in the 2021 legislative session in Kentucky, including the KEES Bill whic...

  • Added: Feb 24, 2021
  • Length: 07:28
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Kentucky is applying for a Medicaid Waiver that would allow the state to use federal Medicaid dollars to treat substance use disorder inside KY Jai...

  • Added: Jan 21, 2021
  • Length: 05:34
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Formerly incarcerated people and their advocates in Kentucky have launched a statewide campaign called Liberation Identification. Their goal is to...

  • Added: Jan 21, 2021
  • Length: 05:03
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In late October 2020, a coalition of organizations across Kentucky launched a statewide campaign called #LiberationIdentification. They want the K...

  • Added: Jan 21, 2021
  • Length: 04:38
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A piece that digs into the economics of jails and prisons in eastern Kentucky. We hear interviews with professors Gregory Hooks (McMaster Universi...

  • Added: Jan 21, 2021
  • Length: 15:22
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KY is one of only 2 states in the nation that imposes a lifetime ban on voting for all with felony convictions. In December 2019 Governor Andy Bes...

  • Added: Jan 21, 2021
  • Length: 09:04
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A piece about the challenges of re-entry post-incarceration during Covid-19, and how the Rowan County Re-entry Program - based in Morehead, KY- is...

  • Added: Jan 21, 2021
  • Length: 09:20