Incarceration and Redemption

Maria and Julio reconnect with David Luis “Suave” Gonzalez, an artist and former juvenile lifer, who they talked to during a 2018 ITT Live show in Chicago. Maria reflects on meeting Suave over 20 years ago, and how their journalist-source relationship has evolved since. And, Suave talks about his journey from incarceration to redemption in Pennsylvania, the state that was known as the epicenter for juveniles serving life without parole. You can listen to Suave's full story in a new podcast from Futuro Studios distributed by PRX. Subscribe here! ITT Staff Picks: - Jamaal Bowman writes about the school-to-prison pipeline and how disproportionate disciplinary standards push Black and Brown students into a system of mass incarceration in this piece for The Washington Post. - "It’s hard to estimate how many juveniles are serving long sentences equivalent to life. In most states, no agency is mandated to count how many kids are sent away until they will likely die, though youth advocates in Louisiana, for example, estimate there are more than 200 in that state’s penitentiaries alone," writes Eli Hager for The Marshal Project's Justice Lab. - As of January 2021, "Ohio is the 24th state, plus D.C., that will stop imposing sentences of juvenile life without parole," reports Daniel Nichanian for The Appeal. Photo credit: Maggie Freleng/Futuro Studios See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for ad-free listening, early-access and exclusive bonus episodes with the chisme behind In The Thick and all our podcasts: www.futuromediagroup.org/joinplus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.