The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any industrialized nation. In the face of an unprecedented economic crisis, some states are beginning to consider reducing their prison populations. But other states are looking to do just the opposite in an effort to create jobs. Today, David Fathi Director of Human Rights Watch’s US Program, Glenn E. Martin, Vice President of Development and Public Affairs at the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy, and Victoria Law, author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles Of Incarcerated Women
on the future of prison reform in the United States.

Also, Donald Specter, Director of the Prison Law Office discusses a recent federal ruling in California that declared the states overcrowded prisons, “impossible to manage,” and suggests gradually reducing the prison population.

From prisons to immigration detention. The Obama administration has said that it wants to create a “truly civil detention system.” Orwellian or earnest? Aarti Shahani founder of Families for Freedom and lead author of the Justice Strategies report, “Local Democracy on ICE” discusses the Obama administration’s plan and the closure of the T. Don Hutto detention center in Texas.

Bernie Sanders and Brave New Films have teamed up for a series of unfiltered conversations on war, poverty, healthcare, and US foreign policy.

Finally, this month marks the 85th birthday of novelist and writer James Baldwin. Recently Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez and others celebrated his life at the Fazon Firehouse Theater in Harlem.

Thanks to Books Not Bars and VisiononTV for video in tonight’s show.