Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Wanda Bertram, communications strategist with the Prison Policy Initiative. Here she talks about the studies and the recommendations her organization is making to address the problem.

An increasing number of Americans have been imprisoned for longer and longer sentences over the past several decades, due to the government’s so-called “War on Drugs” and politicians who appeal to voters by calling for “tough on crime” policies.

These forces have led to mass incarceration in the U.S. that’s resulted in a prison population that’s now older. Three in every four people who were released from state prisons from 1991 and 2021, more than 12 million people, are over the age of 50 today. Two recent studies measure the negative health and longevity impacts of long-term incarceration later in life.

Interview with Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director research, reporting and analysis with the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center & SPLC Action.

Rachel Rivas discusses the Souther Poverty Law Center’s “Annual Year in Hate & Extremism Report,” which finds that under the Trump regime, far-right extremist groups have gained new power across the federal government, private tech sector and college campuses over the course of 2025.

Interview with Pastor Doug Pagitt, executive director of the Minneapolis-based national organization Vote Common Good, conducted by Scott Harris.

Pastor Doug Pagitt discusses how the resistance community he works with has been doing since the dark days of the ICE invasion in the Twin Cities in January. He talks about the Department of Justice’s recent federal criminal charges against 15 Minneapolis residents in connection with anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis-St. Paul earlier this year, accusing them of “conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers” and of allegedly “violently” impeding immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities.

Interview with Dion Nissenbaum, senior reporter with VoteBeat National, conducted by Scott Harris.

Dion Nissenbaum, discusses his recent news story, “FBI Probe of Ohio Voting Rights Group Expands to Include an Affiliated National Advocacy Network,” and other Trump administration threats to the midterm election he’s been covering for VoteBeat National, a nonpartisan local reporting on elections and voting.

Interview with David Faris, professor of political science at Roosevelt University and author of The Kids Are All Left: How Young Voters Will Unite America, conducted by Scott Harris.

David Faris discusses his recent Nation magazine commentary, “The Framework for the Iran Peace Deal Means Total Humiliation for Trump,” and other developments in the status of U.S.-Iran ceasefire and peace negotiations.

On this episode of RRT:
Prof. William LeoGrand, expert in U.S. policy toward Latin America and Cuba, discusses the dire conditions in Cuba and that nation's prospects for surviving the Trump regime's oil embargo and threats to "take the Island."
Kary Love, a self-described country lawyer from Michigan, discusses his recent article in Counterpunch, " "Being Honest With Ourselves 250 Years After July 4, 1776.
Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner, and Richard Hill

Interview with Ofer Neiman, a Jewish-Israeli anti-apartheid activist living in Jerusalem, conducted by Melinda Tuhus.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Ofer Neiman, an anti-Zionist Jewish-Israeli citizen and a supporter of the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel founded by Palestinian civil society. Here he assesses the likely results in Israel’s upcoming October election amid the Gaza genocide, escalating settler violence in the West Bank and the corruption charges Netanyahu faces in Israeli courts.

Interview with Yanira Arias, advocacy and leadership organizer at Alianza Americas, conducted by Scott Harris.

Yanira Arias focuses on Alianza America’s call for elected officials to reject the expansion of a system that spreads fear, destabilizes families, and undermines trust in public institutions. She also describes what can be done now to mitigate the harm ICE agents will inflict across the U.S. with their new funding.