John Malkin speaks with Emile Suotonye DeWeaver about his book "Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy and an Abolitionist Future." DeWeaver became an activist and journalist while incarcerated for twenty-one years and co-founded the organization Prison Renaissance, which centers incarcerated voices and incarcerated leadership. During his time in prison, DeWeaver also covertly organized to pass legislation impacting juveniles in California’s criminal legal system, and was a culture writer for Easy Street Magazine. He envisions a culture without white supremacy, where police and prisons are replaced with healing systems that create safety and accountability.

"There is the general concept that impacted people should lead the work," told Malkin. "One of the reasons I founded Prison Renaissance is because there was this accepted norm that incarcerated people can't create organizations because they're in prison. I saw that as an imagination problem. I founded Prison Renaissance to break that imagination lock. It was founded and run by incarcerated people, even in a situation where incarcerated people are not allowed to run nonprofits."

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See Also: Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Book Launch and Signing