Calls from Home
Calls from Home (2001-present)
Executive Producer/Founder: Nick Szuberla
Producers: Nick Szuberla, Lillie Branch-Kennedy, Amelia Kirby, Keith DeBlasio, Andalusia Knoll, Mia Fredrick
Organizers: Barbara Fair, Tracy Family, Incarcerated people at Wallens Ridge and Red Onion State Prisons
Partners: Prison Legal News, Human Rights Defense Center, National Radio Project, November Coalition.
Listen: Calls from Home on PRX
In response to a Human Rights Watch report, I organized a special radio broadcast of prisoner families’ voices into the region’s prisons. The program grew to an annual national program, as well as a weekly show. Collaborating with Lillie Branch Kennedy and Keith DeBlasio the program engaged hundreds of families across Virginia in participating. The first program included incarcerated listeners writing the press release and building the listening audience. Calls from Home was created as an organized effort and as a way to apply pressure on the prison system regarding human rights abuses. It focused on using stories and people speaking directly from the heart. Several volunteers around the county have organized their Calls from Home program using the tools we provided them.
Articles, Research, and News about Calls from Home:
Mary Ratcliff, (2012) Prisoners at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison on hunger strike. San Francisco Bay View - National Black Newspaper
Michelle Chen, (2008) Reclaiming Radio: Alternative radio projects attempt to take back the public sphere. ColorLines
Rose Hackman (2016) Calls from Home: the radio show that connects inmates and their loved ones. The Guardian
Matt Clark (2009) Prison Radio Beams, Love, Hope and News through the Bars. Prison Legal News
Elaine Tend (2015) Calls from Home: A Radio Show Bringing Hope to Inmates in Remote Rural Prisons. Bill Moyers
Marisa Demarco (2011) Radio Project Reach Out to Inmates and their Families, Breaking Silence Around America’s Prison. Alibi
Nora Callahan. (2005) Calls From Home unites Holler to the Hood. Razor Wire.
Jan Cohen-Cruz (2012) Engaging Performance: Theatre as call and response. Routledge
“There’s lots of longing and care in the voices of family, as well as the in-studio hosts as they read letters from those on “the inside”...there’s a lot to be said for the sheer rush of feeling that the callers emote as they sing, chant, and send good wishes. I wish more radio stations would devote this kind of time and space for those who find themselves in prison. It reminds one of old radio days, combined with a real community radio mission: to reach out and touch those in need.”
