On this episode of Be Your Change podcast, I sit down with the host and co-producer of the One in Four podcast Beatrice Spadaccini. One in Four podcast looks to educate, humanize and elevate the conversations about previously the incarcerated population re-entering society (This interview has been edited for the purpose of this article).

“We…give voice and give the microphone to people who are coming out of the prison system. Men and women who share with us and gift us with their stories of re-entry and the challenges they face, the stigma they face.”

We talk about

1. The US Criminal Justice: A money making machine
2. The Incarceration of Women in the U.S has increased by 700%
3. One In Four Podcast: A voice for people coming out of prison
4. An unfair and inhuman system
5. The Story of Khadija Clifton, a woman in jail

"To give an idea of what we are dealing with, 1 in 3 black men and 1 in 6 Latino men are incarcerated in the U.S…compared to 1 in 17 white men."

"The Number Of Women In The Incarcerated Population Has Increased By More Than 700% Over The Last 25 Years"

Since 1980, the rate of growth for females has been twice as high. 60% of women in state prisons have a child under the age of 18. Most of them are primary caretakers.

What Does The U.S. Incarceration System Reveal About American Society?

Bea Spadacini lives in Washington D.C. and the first season of One in Four Podcast covers Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. In the District of Columbia, there used to be a federal prison called Lorton.

There’s no more federal prison. There’s only jail. But that means that people who are sentenced to periods longer than 18 months are sent all over the United States to federal prisons. That could be as far as 500 miles away, could be Kentucky, Oklahoma, all the way to Oregon, California, which makes it extremely hard for them to stay in touch with their families, not to mention extremely expensive.

What is clear is that we are reaching the end of a system; the health system is broken; our criminal justice system is broken; education system is broken so what’s next?

Being aware of these issues is key; because it is going to help to implement new solutions; we can not fix what we don’t know. And with awareness, we can assist our previously incarcerated population better.

Go Deeper

• One In Four Podcast
• Incarceration rates worldwide and in the U.S.
• Following the Money of Mass Incarceration
• https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/united-states
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, talks about mass incarceration as a new form of slavery.