They Knew Which Way to Run is a stunning look at the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy in India. The 7-part podcast series takes us on an amazing exploration of themes often discussed on The Permanent Record. Themes like accountability, pain, harm, and how we deal with those as human beings.

A few short weeks after the killing of Tyre Nichols, UCLA Law Professor Joanna Schwartz released a very timely book. It's called Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable. In it, she describes how current law makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to hold police accountable when they violate the rights of those they are sworn to protect. She has a deep understanding of the law and the rules of civil litigation. She vividly demonstrates how the legal system all-too-often protects police officers despite appalling behavior and clear civil rights violations.

On this episode Josh speaks with newly elected Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon. We learned about his career from public defense to finally taking over duties at the Juvenile Court. Judge Sugarmon comes from a family with a very distinguished history of standing up for civil rights, and he carries on that tradition.

We're back with a special interview of the newly elected District Attorney in Shelby County, Steve Mulroy. Steve was elected on August 4th and took office on September 1st. His first week in office was marred by some of the worst incidents of crime that Memphis has seen in a long time. We discussed that first week and what it was like for him personally. Steve and his staff of more than 200 people are responsible for prosecuting every crime in Tennessee's second largest county. We talked about the priorities Steve campaigned on and how he is going about implementing them in his first few months in office. We also discussed some of his hidden talents, things you might not know about him.

Recorded live in front of an audience of Just City supporters at Crosstown Concourse on September 29th, 2022.

"The number of women in American prisons has risen at an alarming rate over the past three decades. In this episode, we talked with Pat Culp, the Executive Director of WEBS Memphis - Women Empowered to Become Self-Sufficient. A native Memphian, Pat has spent the last 28 years providing women in our community with valuable opportunities to return home with marketable skills and the confidence to succeed. We invited her in to discuss what inspired her, what motivates her to keep going, and how prison is different for women."

Kelley Henry has spent her career fighting for people facing the death penalty in Tennessee. Currently, she is fighting for Pervis Payne who, despite consistently maintaining his innocence, is set to be executed in December. The day before we recorded this interview, a Shelby County judge ordered DNA testing in his case - a significant victory for Kelley and her team. We sat down with Kelley on Constitution Day to discuss Pervis Payne’s case and some of the many frustrations of death penalty work in Tennessee.

As a complement to this episode, we highly recommend you read this profile of Kelley written by our friend and guest on Episode 40, Steven Hale. You can learn more about Pervis Payne at www.pervispayne.org.

In October of 2018 The Marshall Project featured the work of Mark Loughney, an artist who is currently incarcerated. We began conversing with him through email and snail mail and started collaborating on an exhibit, which is still in the works. We decided it was time to talk with Mark voice to voice and let our audience hear what life is like inside and how his experience with art has affected him. Learn more about Mark and his work on his instagram page @loughneyart

In this very special episode, we talked to “America’s Next Top Lawyer”, Furonda Brasfield former America’s Next Top model contestant, turned attorney and Executive Director of the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Just City Court Watch coordinator and State organizer, Joia Erin facilitates a conversation with Furonda about the COVID-19 outbreak at Cummins State Correctional facility in Arkansas and discusses the recent deaths of young black men and women killed unjustly in America. Amidst an international coronavirus pandemic, the widespread killing of black bodies in America still persists. Listen in as Joia and Furonda discuss how police brutality is just one factor of systemic oppression.

The United States leads the world in incarceration of children, and Liz Ryan and the Youth First Initiative are leading the effort to change that. Youth justice is a frequent topic of conversation in Memphis, and Shelby County is considering a major expansion of its youth detention facility. For this episode of The Permanent Record, we talked to Liz about challenging the misconceptions of children in the justice system, political will, and the possibilities that exist when we rethink youth detention.