On March 15th, federal agents rounded up more than 230 Venezuelan nationals who were then deported to El Salvador and locked up in the country’s notorious mega-prison. The Trump administration said the men belonged to a violent Venezuelan gang, but presented no evidence, and there were no court hearings in which the men could contest the allegations. Nearly a month later, families of the Venezuelan men say they have heard nothing about their fate. It’s as if they disappeared. “We're living in a world where you can just be rounded up with no hearing, not even an administrative hearing, nothing,” says immigration attorney Joseph Giardina. “Why couldn't you have let their cases be adjudicated? There's no logical answer other than a publicity stunt.” This week on Reveal, Mother Jones reporters Isabela Dias and Noah Lanard speak to the families and lawyers of 10 men now imprisoned at the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. They vehemently deny allegations that the men are members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, and several provided evidence to support that. To learn more about the Trump administration’s arrangement with the government of El Salvador, host Al Letson speaks with Carlos Dada, co-founder and director of El Faro, the Salvadaron investigative news outlet. Dada says that in addition to foreign nationals, the agreement also allows for American citizens convicted of crimes to be imprisoned in El Salvador. As the Trump administration also targets international students who have spoken out about Israel’s war in Gaza, Reveal’s Najib Aminy reports on pro-Israel groups that are claiming to have shared lists of student protestors with the White House, and then taking credit when some of those young people are targeted for deportation.<ul>
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<description>
 &lt;p&gt;On March 15th, federal agents rounded up more than 230 Venezuelan nationals who were then deported to El Salvador and locked up in the country’s notorious mega-prison. The Trump administration said the men belonged to a violent Venezuelan gang, but presented no evidence, and there were no court hearings in which the men could contest the allegations. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nearly a month later, families of the Venezuelan men say they have heard nothing about their fate. It’s as if they disappeared. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“We're living in a world where you can just be rounded up with no hearing, not even an administrative hearing, nothing,” says immigration attorney Joseph Giardina. “Why couldn't you have let their cases be adjudicated? There's no logical answer other than a publicity stunt.” &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This week on &lt;em&gt;Reveal&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Mother Jones&lt;/em&gt; reporters Isabela Dias and Noah Lanard speak to the families and lawyers of 10 men now imprisoned at the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. They vehemently deny allegations that the men are members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, and several provided evidence to support that. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To learn more about the Trump administration’s arrangement with the government of El Salvador, host Al Letson speaks with Carlos Dada, co-founder and director of &lt;em&gt;El Faro&lt;/em&gt;, the Salvadaron investigative news outlet. Dada says that in addition to foreign nationals, the agreement also allows for American citizens convicted of crimes to be imprisoned in El Salvador. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As the Trump administration also targets international students who have spoken out about Israel’s war in Gaza, &lt;em&gt;Reveal&lt;/em&gt;’s Najib Aminy reports on pro-Israel groups that are claiming to have shared lists of student protestors with the White House, and then taking credit when some of those young people are targeted for deportation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
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 </description>

Expulsions based on tattoos and students targeted for supporting Gaza: Trump’s immigration actions are raising eyebrows and constitutional questions.

On March 15th, federal agents rounded up more than 230 Venezuelan nationals who were then deported to El Salvador and locked up in the country’s notorious mega-prison. The Trump administration said the men belonged to a violent Venezuelan gang, but presented no evidence, and there were no court hearings in which the men could contest the allegations. 

Nearly a month later, families of the Venezuelan men say they have heard nothing about their fate. It’s as if they disappeared. 

“We're living in a world where you can just be rounded up with no hearing, not even an administrative hearing, nothing,” says immigration attorney Joseph Giardina. “Why couldn't you have let their cases be adjudicated? There's no logical answer other than a publicity stunt.” 

This week on Reveal, Mother Jones reporters Isabela Dias and Noah Lanard speak to the families and lawyers of 10 men now imprisoned at the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. They vehemently deny allegations that the men are members of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, and several provided evidence to support that. 

To learn more about the Trump administration’s arrangement with the government of El Salvador, host Al Letson speaks with Carlos Dada, co-founder and director of El Faro, the Salvadaron investigative news outlet. Dada says that in addition to foreign nationals, the agreement also allows for American citizens convicted of crimes to be imprisoned in El Salvador. 

As the Trump administration also targets international students who have spoken out about Israel’s war in Gaza, Reveal’s Najib Aminy reports on pro-Israel groups that are claiming to have shared lists of student protestors with the White House, and then taking credit when some of those young people are targeted for deportation.

Support Reveal’s journalism at<a href="https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=cir&amp;amount=15&amp;installmentPeriod=monthly&amp;utm_source=reveal-podcast&amp;utm_medium=partner-website&amp;utm_campaign=membership_2022_podcastdescription&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=&amp;campaign=7015d000001wAmaAAE"> Revealnews.org/donatenow</a>

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Trump’s Deportation Black Hole

David Folkenflik occupies a unique role at NPR: He’s a journalist who writes about journalism. And that includes the very organization where he works, which is once again being threatened by conservatives in Washington.The second Trump administration has aggressively gone after the media in its first few months. It’s kicked news organizations out of the Pentagon. It’s barred other newsrooms from access to the White House. And Trump supporters in Congress are targeting federal funding for public media.On this week’s episode of More To The Story, Folkenflik talks to host Al Letson about this unprecedented moment for journalists, why more media outlets seem to be bending the knee to the Trump administration, and how journalism can begin to win back public trust.Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Host: Al LetsonListen: <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5281162">Trump’s FCC chief opens investigation into NPR and PBS</a> (NPR)Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/donald-trump-press-room-conservative-media/">Meet the New State Media</a> (Mother Jones)Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/donald-trump-robert-kennedy-jr-media-press-accommodationist-sanewashing/">The Media and Trump: Not Resistance, But Not Acceptance</a> (Mother Jones)Watch: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq3kGUFIrxM">PBS and NPR leaders testify on federal support for public broadcasting in House hearing</a> (PBS NewsHour)<ul>
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<description>
 &lt;p&gt;David Folkenflik occupies a unique role at NPR: He’s a journalist who writes about journalism. And that includes the very organization where he works, which is once again being threatened by conservatives in Washington.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The second Trump administration has aggressively gone after the media in its first few months. It’s kicked news organizations out of the Pentagon. It’s barred other newsrooms from access to the White House. And Trump supporters in Congress are targeting federal funding for public media.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On this week’s episode of &lt;em&gt;More To The Story&lt;/em&gt;, Folkenflik talks to host Al Letson about this unprecedented moment for journalists, why more media outlets seem to be bending the knee to the Trump administration, and how journalism can begin to win back public trust.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Host: Al Letson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Listen:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5281162"&gt;Trump’s FCC chief opens investigation into NPR and PBS&lt;/a&gt; (NPR)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/donald-trump-press-room-conservative-media/"&gt;Meet the New State Media&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Mother Jones&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/donald-trump-robert-kennedy-jr-media-press-accommodationist-sanewashing/"&gt;The Media and Trump: Not Resistance, But Not Acceptance&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Mother Jones&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq3kGUFIrxM"&gt;PBS and NPR leaders testify on federal support for public broadcasting in House hearing&lt;/a&gt; &lt;em&gt;(PBS NewsHour&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
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 </description>

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik discusses Trump’s attacks on the media.

David Folkenflik occupies a unique role at NPR: He’s a journalist who writes about journalism. And that includes the very organization where he works, which is once again being threatened by conservatives in Washington.

The second Trump administration has aggressively gone after the media in its first few months. It’s kicked news organizations out of the Pentagon. It’s barred other newsrooms from access to the White House. And Trump supporters in Congress are targeting federal funding for public media.

On this week’s episode of More To The Story, Folkenflik talks to host Al Letson about this unprecedented moment for journalists, why more media outlets seem to be bending the knee to the Trump administration, and how journalism can begin to win back public trust.

Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Host: Al Letson

Listen: <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5281162">Trump’s FCC chief opens investigation into NPR and PBS</a> (NPR)

Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/donald-trump-press-room-conservative-media/">Meet the New State Media</a> (Mother Jones)

Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/donald-trump-robert-kennedy-jr-media-press-accommodationist-sanewashing/">The Media and Trump: Not Resistance, But Not Acceptance</a> (Mother Jones)

Watch: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq3kGUFIrxM">PBS and NPR leaders testify on federal support for public broadcasting in House hearing</a> (PBS NewsHour)

Donate today at <a href="https://cir.fundjournalism.org/donate/?amount=15&amp;frequency=monthly&amp;campaign=701QP00000cX1xDYAS">Revealnews.org/</a>more
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at<a href="https://revealnews.org/weekly"> Revealnews.org/weekly</a>

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Trump’s “Pincer Attack” on Journalism Is Working. But There’s Hope.

Adam Aurand spent nearly a decade of his life stuck in a loop: emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prison, and the streets in and around Seattle. During that time, he picked up diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. He also used opioids and methamphetamine.Aurand’s life is an example of what happens to many people who experience psychosis in the US: a perpetual shuffle from one place to the next for visits lasting hours or days or weeks, none of them leading to longer-lasting support.This week on Reveal, reporters who made the podcast Lost Patients, by KUOW and the Seattle Times, try to answer a question: Why do America’s systems for treating serious mental illness break down in this way? The answer took them from the present-day streets of Seattle to decades into America’s past.You can find Lost Patients wherever you get your podcasts:NPR: <a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510377/lost-patients">https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510377/lost-patients</a>Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-patients/id1733735613">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-patients/id1733735613</a> Spotify: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1avleoc5U4DA7U37GFPzIH">https://open.spotify.com/show/1avleoc5U4DA7U37GFPzIH</a> This is an update of an episode that originally aired in <a href="https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-churn/">July 2024</a>. <ul>
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<description>
 &lt;p&gt;Adam Aurand spent nearly a decade of his life stuck in a loop: emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prison, and the streets in and around Seattle. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;During that time, he picked up diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. He also used opioids and methamphetamine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aurand’s life is an example of what happens to many people who experience psychosis in the US: a perpetual shuffle from one place to the next for visits lasting hours or days or weeks, none of them leading to longer-lasting support.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This week on &lt;em&gt;Reveal&lt;/em&gt;, reporters who made the podcast &lt;em&gt;Lost Patients&lt;/em&gt;, by KUOW and the &lt;em&gt;Seattle Times&lt;/em&gt;,&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;try to answer a question: Why do America’s systems for treating serious mental illness break down in this way? &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The answer took them from the present-day streets of Seattle to decades into America’s past.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You can find &lt;em&gt;Lost Patients &lt;/em&gt;wherever you get your podcasts:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;NPR: &lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510377/lost-patients"&gt;https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510377/lost-patients&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apple Podcasts: &lt;a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-patients/id1733735613"&gt;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-patients/id1733735613&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spotify: &lt;a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1avleoc5U4DA7U37GFPzIH"&gt;https://open.spotify.com/show/1avleoc5U4DA7U37GFPzIH&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is an update of an episode that originally aired in &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-churn/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;July 2024&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
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 </description>

People who experience psychosis often cycle through homelessness, emergency rooms, and jail. What happened to America’s mental health system?

Adam Aurand spent nearly a decade of his life stuck in a loop: emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prison, and the streets in and around Seattle. 

During that time, he picked up diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder. He also used opioids and methamphetamine.

Aurand’s life is an example of what happens to many people who experience psychosis in the US: a perpetual shuffle from one place to the next for visits lasting hours or days or weeks, none of them leading to longer-lasting support.

This week on Reveal, reporters who made the podcast Lost Patients, by KUOW and the Seattle Times, try to answer a question: Why do America’s systems for treating serious mental illness break down in this way? 

The answer took them from the present-day streets of Seattle to decades into America’s past.

You can find Lost Patients wherever you get your podcasts:

NPR: <a href="https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510377/lost-patients">https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510377/lost-patients</a>

Apple Podcasts: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-patients/id1733735613">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lost-patients/id1733735613</a> 

Spotify: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1avleoc5U4DA7U37GFPzIH">https://open.spotify.com/show/1avleoc5U4DA7U37GFPzIH</a> 

This is an update of an episode that originally aired in <a href="https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-churn/">July 2024</a>. 

Support Reveal’s journalism at<a href="https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=cir&amp;amount=15&amp;installmentPeriod=monthly&amp;utm_source=reveal-podcast&amp;utm_medium=partner-website&amp;utm_campaign=membership_2022_podcastdescription&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=&amp;campaign=7015d000001wAmaAAE"> Revealnews.org/donatenow</a>

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The Churn

The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead’s path to advocacy was a curvy one. She started out as a comedian, first as a stand-up and then working on The Daily Show. In the early 2000s, she co-founded Air America Radio, which was designed to be a counterweight to the popularity of radio personalities on the right.Today, as producer of the Feminist Buzzkills podcast and founder of Abortion Access Front, she’s weaving together politics and comedy to educate people about abortion laws and give them the tools to fight. Thank you to Abortion Access Front for the use of its video “I’m Just a Pill” at the beginning of our episode. Credits | Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Production manager: Zulema Cobb | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Host: Al Letson<ul>
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</ul>Listen: <a href="https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-post-roe-health-care-crisis/">The Post-Roe Health Care Crisis</a> (Reveal)Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/trump-amy-hagstrom-miller-championed-abortion-rights-in-texas-and-amy-hagstrom-miller-is-ready-for-the-next-fight/">Planning for the Worst in Trump’s Next Term: Prepare, Don’t Panic, and Don’t Comply in Advance</a> (Mother Jones)Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/abortion-pill-forgotten-history-attacks-mifepristone-ru486-anti-abortion-extremists-new-book/">The Forgotten—and Incredibly Important—History of the Abortion Pill</a> (Mother Jones)Watch: <a href="https://youtu.be/n9gnbxlMdYA?feature=shared">I’m Just a Pill</a> (Abortion Access Front via YouTube)

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<description>
 &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Daily Show&lt;/em&gt; co-creator Lizz Winstead’s path to advocacy was a curvy one. She started out as a comedian, first as a stand-up and then working on &lt;em&gt;The Daily Show&lt;/em&gt;. In the early 2000s, she co-founded Air America Radio, which was designed to be a counterweight to the popularity of radio personalities on the right.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Today, as producer of the &lt;em&gt;Feminist Buzzkills&lt;/em&gt; podcast and founder of Abortion Access Front, she’s weaving together politics and comedy to educate people about abortion laws and give them the tools to fight. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thank you to Abortion Access Front for the use of its video “I’m Just a Pill” at the beginning of our episode. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Credits&lt;/strong&gt; | Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Production manager: Zulema Cobb | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Host: Al Letson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
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&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Listen: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-post-roe-health-care-crisis/"&gt;The Post-Roe Health Care Crisis&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Reveal&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/trump-amy-hagstrom-miller-championed-abortion-rights-in-texas-and-amy-hagstrom-miller-is-ready-for-the-next-fight/"&gt;Planning for the Worst in Trump’s Next Term: Prepare, Don’t Panic, and Don’t Comply in Advance&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Mother Jones&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/abortion-pill-forgotten-history-attacks-mifepristone-ru486-anti-abortion-extremists-new-book/"&gt;The Forgotten—and Incredibly Important—History of the Abortion Pill&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Mother Jones&lt;/em&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watch: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://youtu.be/n9gnbxlMdYA?feature=shared"&gt;I’m Just a Pill&lt;/a&gt; (Abortion Access Front via YouTube)&lt;/p&gt;

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“The Daily Show” co-founder Lizz Winstead discusses her abortion rights advocacy and founding Abortion Access Front.

The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead’s path to advocacy was a curvy one. She started out as a comedian, first as a stand-up and then working on The Daily Show. In the early 2000s, she co-founded Air America Radio, which was designed to be a counterweight to the popularity of radio personalities on the right.

Today, as producer of the Feminist Buzzkills podcast and founder of Abortion Access Front, she’s weaving together politics and comedy to educate people about abortion laws and give them the tools to fight. 

Thank you to Abortion Access Front for the use of its video “I’m Just a Pill” at the beginning of our episode. 

Credits | Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Production manager: Zulema Cobb | Digital producer: Nikki Frick | Interim executive producers: Brett Myers and Taki Telonidis | Host: Al Letson

Support our journalism at<a href="https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=cir&amp;amount=15&amp;installmentPeriod=monthly&amp;utm_source=reveal-podcast&amp;utm_medium=partner-website&amp;utm_campaign=membership_2022_podcastdescription&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=&amp;campaign=7015d000001wAmaAAE"> Revealnews.org/donatenow</a>

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Listen: <a href="https://revealnews.org/podcast/the-post-roe-health-care-crisis/">The Post-Roe Health Care Crisis</a> (Reveal)

Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/trump-amy-hagstrom-miller-championed-abortion-rights-in-texas-and-amy-hagstrom-miller-is-ready-for-the-next-fight/">Planning for the Worst in Trump’s Next Term: Prepare, Don’t Panic, and Don’t Comply in Advance</a> (Mother Jones)

Read: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/abortion-pill-forgotten-history-attacks-mifepristone-ru486-anti-abortion-extremists-new-book/">The Forgotten—and Incredibly Important—History of the Abortion Pill</a> (Mother Jones)

Watch: <a href="https://youtu.be/n9gnbxlMdYA?feature=shared">I’m Just a Pill</a> (Abortion Access Front via YouTube)

She Launched “The Daily Show.” Now She’s Fighting Red State Abortion Bans.

At 18, Jack Morris was convicted of murdering a man in South Los Angeles and sent to prison for life. It was 1979, and America was entering the era of mass incarceration, with tough sentencing laws ballooning the criminal justice system. As California’s prison population surged, so did prison violence. “You learn that in order to survive, you yourself then have to become predatorial,” Morris says.  “And then, you then expose somebody else to that, and it's a vicious cycle.”When California started aggressively targeting prison gangs, Morris was accused of associating with one of the groups. The punishment was severe: He was sent to a special supermax unit at the state’s highest-security prison, Pelican Bay. The facility was designed to isolate men deemed the “worst of the worst.” Like Morris, most lived in near-total isolation. No phone calls, no meaningful physical contact with another human, no educational classes, no glimpses of the outside world. The only regular time out of a cell was for a shower and solo exercise in another concrete room.Decades later, prisoners at Pelican Bay, including Morris, started a dialogue through coded messages and other covert communication. They decided to protest long-term solitary confinement by organizing a hunger strike. It would become the largest in US history and helped push California to implement reforms.This week on Reveal, we team up with the PBS film <a href="https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/the-strike/">The Strike</a> to tell the inside story of a group of men who overcame bitter divisions and harsh conditions to build an improbable prison resistance movement.<ul>
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<description>
 &lt;p&gt;At 18, Jack Morris was convicted of murdering a man in South Los Angeles and sent to prison for life. It was 1979, and America was entering the era of mass incarceration, with tough sentencing laws ballooning the criminal justice system. As California’s prison population surged, so did prison violence. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“You learn that in order to survive, you yourself then have to become predatorial,” Morris says.  “And then, you then expose somebody else to that, and it's a vicious cycle.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When California started aggressively targeting prison gangs, Morris was accused of associating with one of the groups. The punishment was severe: He was sent to a special supermax unit at the state’s highest-security prison, Pelican Bay.&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The facility was designed to isolate men deemed the “worst of the worst.” Like Morris, most lived in near-total isolation. No phone calls, no meaningful physical contact with another human, no educational classes, no glimpses of the outside world. The only regular time out of a cell was for a shower and solo exercise in another concrete room.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Decades later, prisoners at Pelican Bay, including Morris, started a dialogue through coded messages and other covert communication. They decided to protest long-term solitary confinement by organizing a hunger strike. It would become the largest in US history and helped push California to implement reforms.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This week on &lt;em&gt;Reveal&lt;/em&gt;, we team up with the PBS film &lt;a href="https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/the-strike/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Strike&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; to tell the inside story of a group of men who overcame bitter divisions and harsh conditions to build an improbable prison resistance movement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
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After spending years locked in solitary confinement, a group of California men united to launch the largest prison hunger strike in US history.

At 18, Jack Morris was convicted of murdering a man in South Los Angeles and sent to prison for life. It was 1979, and America was entering the era of mass incarceration, with tough sentencing laws ballooning the criminal justice system. As California’s prison population surged, so did prison violence. 

“You learn that in order to survive, you yourself then have to become predatorial,” Morris says.  “And then, you then expose somebody else to that, and it's a vicious cycle.”

When California started aggressively targeting prison gangs, Morris was accused of associating with one of the groups. The punishment was severe: He was sent to a special supermax unit at the state’s highest-security prison, Pelican Bay. 

The facility was designed to isolate men deemed the “worst of the worst.” Like Morris, most lived in near-total isolation. No phone calls, no meaningful physical contact with another human, no educational classes, no glimpses of the outside world. The only regular time out of a cell was for a shower and solo exercise in another concrete room.

Decades later, prisoners at Pelican Bay, including Morris, started a dialogue through coded messages and other covert communication. They decided to protest long-term solitary confinement by organizing a hunger strike. It would become the largest in US history and helped push California to implement reforms.

This week on Reveal, we team up with the PBS film <a href="https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/the-strike/">The Strike</a> to tell the inside story of a group of men who overcame bitter divisions and harsh conditions to build an improbable prison resistance movement.

Support Reveal’s journalism at<a href="https://checkout.fundjournalism.org/memberform?org_id=cir&amp;amount=15&amp;installmentPeriod=monthly&amp;utm_source=reveal-podcast&amp;utm_medium=partner-website&amp;utm_campaign=membership_2022_podcastdescription&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=&amp;campaign=7015d000001wAmaAAE"> Revealnews.org/donatenow</a>

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at<a href="https://revealnews.org/weekly"> Revealnews.org/weekly</a>

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The Strike That Broke a Supermax Prison

Reveal’s investigations will inspire, infuriate and inform you. Host Al Letson and an award-winning team of reporters deliver gripping stories about caregivers, advocates for the unhoused, immigrant families, warehouse workers and formerly incarcerated people, fighting to hold the powerful accountable. The New Yorker described Reveal as “a knockout … a pleasure to listen to, even as we seethe.” A winner of multiple Peabody, duPont, Emmy and Murrow awards, Reveal is produced by the nation’s first investigative journalism nonprofit, The Center for Investigative Reporting, and PRX. From unearthing exploitative working conditions to exposing the nation’s racial disparities, there’s always more to the story. Learn more at <a href="https://revealnews.org/?utm_source=reveal-podcast&amp;utm_medium=partner-website&amp;utm_campaign=membership_2022_podcastdescription&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=&amp;campaign=">revealnews.org/learn</a>.

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