Things Chivas Says on Podcasts

Peace and power. Peace and power to you all. Good evening, Houston. Good evening to our listeners across Texas, throughout the United States, and internationally, from Sweden to England, Australia, even in Africa and beyond. And especially, good evening and peace and power to every brother and sister listening from inside a prison, county jail, or detention facility tonight. I'm your NMAS Incarceration Houston reporter coming to you live on the prison show, KPFT 9.1 FM Houston. Tonight, I want to talk about more lives. Not just surviving prison, not merely counting the years until release. I'm talking about the opportunity to recover, to rebuild, to seek truth, to experience freedom, and to live with dignity. Because America has become remarkably efficient at calculating punishment while remaining terribly inadequate at accounting for the human lives destroyed by it. Tonight, we remember those we've lost, lift up those still fighting, and examine what accountability…

…go to every family that has lost someone within America's cultural systems, especially those mourning deaths connected to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California, and the infamous Harris County Jail in Houston behind every death in custody. Statistic is someone's child, parents, spouse, or friend. Some were awaiting trial. Some had never been convicted, but all deserved humane treatment. When the government takes someone's life into custody, it assumes the responsibility for their safety. Incarceration should never become a death sentence through neglect. And no family should ever have to beg for transparency about how their loved one died behind government control walls. I remember Julian Denner murdered by Bear County sheriff's officers. Their lives deserve more than statistics. Their families deserve answers. And tonight we remember Botham Jean. Former Dallas police officer Amber Gaga was released on parole October 16th after serving approximately seven years for murdering Botham inside of his own apartment. Gaga maintains that she mistakenly believed that she…

…three years returned. Think about that. We celebrate exonerations, but what happens? What happens after the headlines disappear? What about the birthdays, the funerals, the children growing older, and the parents who passed away? I'm grateful Brother Glenn took his final breath outside of the prison walls. But I grieve, and I know I grieve with others, the life he was never permitted to live. An overturned conviction cannot overturn the passage of time. And I know I'm speaking to somebody tonight. And when somebody spends nearly half a century fighting to establish their innocence, freedom alone cannot represent the full measure of justice. Moving on, tonight I stand with the Lucio family with Death Penalty Action and abolitionists worldwide who continue advocating and praying for Melissa Lucio's freedom. Despite a trial judges finding…

…county jail, or detention facility tonight. I'm your NMAS Incarceration Houston reporter coming to you live on the prison show, KPFT 9.1 FM Houston. Tonight, I want to talk about more lives. Not just surviving prison, not merely counting the years until release. I'm talking about the opportunity to recover, to rebuild, to seek truth, to experience freedom, and to live with dignity. Because America has become remarkably efficient at calculating punishment while remaining terribly inadequate at accounting for the human lives destroyed by it. Tonight, we remember those we've lost, lift up those still fighting, and examine what accountability looks like when the person accused of wrongdoing is wearing a government badge. On Wednesday, October 28th, Glenn Simmons passed away at 72. Brother Glenn spent more than 48 years imprisoned in Oklahoma for a murder he did not commit. What about the years we cannot return? Exonerated in 2023, he…