Ep 67: Reporting on Prison w Beth Shelburne

Unbroken Chain Podcast

Beth Shelburne is a journalist who specializes in investigative long-form reporting on criminal justice and mass incarceration. Formerly a reporter with WBRC in Birmingham, AL, Beth left television news to focus full-time on amplifying the voices of those who are stuck inside the system and often silenced. Her recent essay on conditions inside the largest maximum security prison in the nation, “Angola’s Angst,” can be read in the Bitter Southerner. In this conversation, Beth shares wisdom from her friends and collaborators inside the system and honors the incredible odds they have overcome to develop emotionally and spiritually while imprisoned in a system not designed for rehabilitation. She taps her extensive knowledge of the systemic problems within the carceral state, and we discuss the pervasion of contraband, extortion and corruption, “tough on crime” culture, and three strikes laws (called the Habitual Felony Offender Act in Alabama) that can send people who commit non-violent offenses to prison for life.

You can find Beth’s writing and documentary films at BethShelburne.com and IG @bshelburnebham. More podcasts where podcasts are found, on MauraJames.com and IG @maurajames.

[“The World (Is Going Up In Flames)” - Charles Bradley]