Native America Calling

Friday, August 21, 2015 – Women in the Prison System 

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The incarceration rate in the United States has risen dramatically in recent decades and the number of women in state and federal prisons is also on the rise. Although men outnumber women in the U.S. prison system, the number of female inmates in recent years has increased at a higher rate than male inmates, according to The Sentencing Project. What issues do Native women face in prison? The Sentencing Project also reports that women serving time in state prisons are more likely to have children than men in state prisons. How does a mother’s incarceration affect a young person? What about Native communities that have women serving time behind bars?

Guests:

Sharyl Whitehawk (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) — trainer for White Bison

Momi  Akana (Native Hawaiian) — executive director of Keiki O Ka `Āina Family Learning Centers

Katherine Alexander — executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of the Yukon

 

 Break Music:  Pixou Falls (song) Oh My Darling (artist) In the Lonesome Hours (album)

 

Thursday, June 25, 2015 – Life After Prison

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Getting out of jail or prison seems like a joyous occasion. Sometimes families gather for some real, home cooked food, hugs, and stories. Some people have no one on the outside waiting and others head to halfway houses. Whether an individual has been behind bars for two years or 20, prison takes its toll and has lasting effects. What do inmates face as they re-enter society? What are some issues that inmates face years later? This is the fourth episode of our prison series.

Guests:

Winona Stevens (Ho-Chunk) – Washington State Department of Corrections Native American religious program manager

“Real Talk Native” James Cross (White Earth Annishinabee and Lower Sioux Mdewakanton) – motivational speaker, re-entry coordinator American Indian Prison Project Working Group

Carlos Rivera (Pomo) – executive director of White Bison 

 

Break Music:  Track 6 Learned from the Late Joe Cozad (song) Kenneth Cozad & Group (artist) Songs of Our Old People – Old-Time Round Dance Songs of Oklahoma (album) 

Thursday, June 11, 2015 – Juvenile Justice in Native America

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In 2013, the Indian Law and Order Commission released a report titled “A Roadmap For Making Native America Safer.” One chapter in the report examined how the juvenile justice system is failing Native American youth. Native American youth who find themselves in trouble with the law face a jurisdictional maze in a system that is not created to address juveniles. Some tribes have built their own juvenile detention centers, in order to keep incarcerated youth in the community, but is building more jails the best solution? Is incarceration really the answer to help young people whose crimes may be a result of systemic and long-term trauma? In part two of our series on the prison system, we examine the juvenile justice system in Native America.

Guests:
Addie Rolnick – associate professor of law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas

Kathleen Bliss (Cherokee Nation) – partner at Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith 

Mike Guilfoyle (Seneca) – Native American Juvenile Justice Specialist

 

Break Music: Pixou Falls (song) Oh My Darling (artist) In the Lonesome Hours (album)

Thursday, June 4, 2015 – Sentencing Disparities in Native America

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The rate of Native Americans in federal prison has increased by 27 percent in the last five years, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. Because of the special relationship tribes have with the federal government, many crimes committed on Indian Reservations are subject to federal sentencing guidelines. This can create a dramatic difference in the sentences for the same crimes that are handed down to Native Americans. The United States Sentencing Commission created a Tribal Issues Advisory Group to look at the issue of federal sentencing in Indian Country. In this first installment of our 4-part series on prison issues in Native America, we discuss the disparities Native Americans face in federal sentencing. How does this issue impact you or your community? What is needed to create a more equitable sentencing system for Native Americans?

Guests: 

Heather Dawn Thompson (Cheyenne River Sioux) – Attorney at Greenburg Traurig

Barbara Creel  (Pueblo of Jemez) – professor of law at the University of New Mexico

Break Music:  Dohinoo (song) Morley Loon  (artist)  Native America Calling – Music From Indian Country  (album)       

Tuesday, May 12, 2015 – Death Penalty

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The death penalty is the ultimate penalty for committing a crime. The United States has a long history of using the death penalty, including the execution of 38 Dakota men in 1862, but the Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments challenging the constitutionality of using lethal injection to execute people. Tribes cannot execute offenders but they can work with the federal government to allow capital punishment for crimes committed on reservation. Does your tribe have a history of using the death penalty? Where do you stand on the death penalty? Do you think the death penalty is a just punishment for heinous crimes? Or is it cruel and unusual punishment?

Guests:

Catherine Grosso – Associate professor of  Law at Michigan State University College of Law

Tamera Begay (Navajo) – Third year law student at Michigan State University College of Law

 

Break Music:  Dance of the Coyote (song) Tony Duncan (artist) Earth Warrior (album)

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