One trillion dollars. That’s how much the United States has spent in the last 40 years on the war on drugs. Currently, more than 450,000 Americans are imprisoned for drug offenses—up from 40,000 in 1980. In the federal system alone, almost half of all inmates are drug offenders. Despite the government’s investment in this war, America remains the No. 1 country in the world for illicit drug use, and in 2015, overdose deaths reached an all-time high, claiming 50,000 lives. To better understand this endless drug war we wanted to find out how it all started. And the trail led to a man most Americans have never heard of. News Beat is an MP Studios production, a division of Morey Publishing www.MoreyPublishing.com News Beat is produced and engineered by Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti www.MannyFaces.com Original Music Supervision by Eden White www.EdenWhiteMusic.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jon Chim

More than 400,000 people toil in U.S. jails annually because they can't pay bail. So why in the "Land of the Free" does freedom come at a debilitating cost? Learn how the money bail system in the United States has crushed the poor and forced potentially innocent people to confess to crimes they did not commit, transforming the so-called "Land of the Free" into the world's biggest prison state, and deceivingly inflating conviction rates to grease the campaign coffers of political parties and the power elites. News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced, engineered and hosted by Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

There are tens of thousands of kids incarcerated across the United States within youth prisons, which are often outdated, antiquated, and dilapidated former military prisons dating back to the Civil War. Conditions inside mirror those of adult prisons. There’s rampant violence and abuse, both physical and psychological. Kids are placed in solitary confinement and even hog-tied by guards. And just as with the United States’ adult prison population, it’s African American children and kids of color who are locked up at a grossly disproportionate rate than whites. News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced, engineered and hosted by Manny Faces: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

More than 6 million Americans are barred from voting due to Jim Crow-era laws that strip citizens' voting rights following a felony conviction. Nearly all states have mechanisms in place amounting to civil death sentences for those who served their time and were released back into society, but remain oppressed by a system that refuses to abolish Civil War-era policies. Florida is home to a quarter of the voting-revoked population, with nearly 1.7 million former offenders stripped of their rights. It’s one of the rare barriers to voting that intersects with America’s broken criminal justice system—a system that disproportionately incarcerates black and brown citizens at higher rates than whites. As a result, one in 13 disenfranchised voters are black. Meanwhile, efforts are underway across the country to do away with these discriminatory laws, which literally prevent millions of U.S. citizens from exercising their right to participate in the democratic process. News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced, engineered and hosted by Manny Faces: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

A new wave of progressive prosecutors hopes to reform the criminal 'injustice' system & dismantle mass incarceration by sweeping the midterm elections. News Beat: Social Justice Never Sounded So Good News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced, engineered and hosted by Manny Faces: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer: Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

In an era when women comprise the fastest-growing prison population in the U.S., those incarcerated are screaming #MeToo, too. But is anyone listening? News Beat: Social Justice Never Sounded So Good News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced, engineered and hosted by Manny Faces: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer: Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

Prison abolition may appear to be a radical conception, but it wasn't always that way. In fact, in the '60s and '70s, the idea of prison abolition in the United States was a very real issue being discussed among academics and politicians alike. This was before the passage of sweeping policies and laws targeting impoverished black and brown communities, a resurgence of the racist war on drugs, and Clinton-era criminal justice policies that collectively transformed America into the world's largest prison state. The prison abolition movement is alive and well, and those who ascribe to its principals are still hoping for drastic change. News Beat: Social Justice Never Sounded So Good News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced, engineered and hosted by Manny Faces: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer: Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

Tens of thousands each year, and hundreds of thousands collectively, are shackled with electronic monitors—devices that track a person’s every move. In most cases, these are attached to those on parole. In others, courts may even choose to lock them onto a person’s body as a condition of pretrial release. Critics of e-carceration are warning the increased use of this technology could be the beginning of a future where more people will be incarcerated inside their homes than within traditional penitentiaries, effectively undermining the movement to decarcerate jails and prisons and dismantle mass incarceration, and transforming communities into digital prisons. News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced and engineered by Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

Since a U.S. Supreme Court-imposed mandate in 2011, the Golden State has sought to address prison overcrowding through myriad reforms, including by moving people from state prisons to county jails, reducing prison sentences for certain crimes, and creating resources to help people reenter society. Crime in California is now at historic lows. Yet some reforms have been met with resistance from law enforcement organizations and “tough-on-crime” politicians concerned these initiatives will endanger public safety. While there’s still a lot to be done concerning criminal justice reform, California has presented itself as a model for the rest of the nation. This is a special podcast collaboration with The Marshall Project, a New York City-based nonprofit news organization dedicated to covering, and creating and sustaining a sense of national urgency about, the U.S. criminal justice system. News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced and engineered by Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

This episode introduces the concept of restorative justice, in which crime victims actually have a say in the punishment handed down to their offenders. So instead of universal prison time, atonement might come in the form of community service, or in a face to face meeting, or any number of other acts of redress that those affected see as fit. This isn’t a radical, new approach, but a centuries-old practice, that many say empowers victims and paves the road for true healing.

If we were to ask you to name the largest mental health facilities in the country, what would you say? We'll save you the trouble. The answer: jails. America's failure to effectively treat the mentally ill amid a mass incarceration crisis has only exacerbated the struggles for thousands of people.   News Beat is a Morey Creative Studios production: www.MoreyCreative.com News Beat is produced and engineered by Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

Consider this: Alan Newton served more than 20 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit before DNA analysis proved him innocent and he was exonerated. Now, had this occurred in Alabama, he would have received $50,000 for every year of wrongful imprisonment. Instead, Newton was convicted in the state of New York, where exonerees receive nothing, and are instead forced to sue the government for compensation. Eighteen states do not even have compensation laws, and those that do vary in exactly what the restitution is. On this episode, we dissect the disparity in exoneration compensation laws and how even seemingly liberal states such as New York have mandates on the books many consider woefully inadequate. News Beat is an MP Studios production, a division of Morey Publishing: www.MoreyPublishing.com News Beat is produced and engineered by Michael “Manny Faces” Conforti: www.MannyFaces.com News Beat Executive Producer is Jed Morey Editor in Chief: Christopher TwarowskiManaging Editor: Rashed MianCover Art Design: Jeff Main

Our compelling, award-winning examination of the factors that exist when overly-oppressed and tormented communities have finally had enough, and, much like the incidents that lay at the foundation of our democracy, are forced to rise up in rebellion. Featuring Dr. Cornel West, Rosa Clemente, and Lawrence Hamm. Music by The Band Called FUSE, lyrics by Silent Knight. News Beat is an award-winning Morey Creative Studios podcast. Producer: Michael "Manny Faces" Conforti Editor-In-Chief: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey

The warnings were clear: COVID-19 would spread like wildfire in jails and prisons. It has. The top COVID-19 clusters across America are overwhelmingly jails and prisons, and efforts to reduce jail populations have stalled amid a surge in infections. Among the hardest-hit is San Quentin State Prison in California, which is responsible for about a quarter of the state prison system’s COVID-19 infections and almost half its deaths. Guests: Danielle Harris, managing attorney for the San Francisco Public Defender's Integrity Unit. Emily Widra, research analyst at the Massachusetts-based Prison Policy Initiative. Sharon Dolovich, professor of law at UCLA School of Law, and director of the UCLA Prison Law & Policy Program. She also serves as director of the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project. News Beat is an award-winning Morey Creative Studios podcast. Producer: Michael "Manny Faces" Conforti Editor-In-Chief: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey

A federal appeals court earlier this month affirmed a controversial Florida law requiring people with felony convictions to pay court fees in order to have their voting rights restored. With less than 50 days until the November election and with the state’s voter registration deadline nearing, the 6-4 ruling all but ensures hundreds of thousands of Floridians won't be able to participate. This is an update to our 2018 episode “Real Voter Fraud: Felony Disenfranchisement’s Civil Death Sentence,” which examined how more than one million Floridians are barred from voting due to a past felony conviction. More broadly, six million Americans are outlawed from casting a ballot due to Jim Crow-era felony disenfranchisement laws. According to The Sentencing Project, “Black Americans of voting age are more than four times as likely to lose their voting rights than the rest of the adult population, with one of every 13 black adults disenfranchised nationally”  Our guest in this episode is Julie Ebenstein, a staff attorney at the ACLU Voting Rights Project.

Beware the false messiahs of meaningful criminal justice reform, the so-called bipartisan coalition championing initiatives that purport to make a difference yet do absolutely nothing to incite true change, and in fact, further tighten the historical and ongoing noose of neoliberalism and structural racism within the world’s largest prison state. Our guests go behind the smoke and mirrors, ripping off the masks of the fake prophets pushing artificial revolutions and exposing the inherent deceit enabling the sinister shackles of mass incarceration to continue enslaving communities of color ad infinitum. News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey

A staggering percentage of those locked up in America’s mass incarceration crisis—upwards of 20%, or 200,000 folks (!!)—were homeless or in marginal housing leading up to their imprisonment. Forty percent were on welfare. Even more were jobless, especially among the Black community. And far too many were in public housing or foster care prior to even turning 18. This episode examines the devastating link between poverty and incarceration in the United States—what reform advocates dub America’s ‘Poverty to Prison Pipeline.’ News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey

Republicans, who have long used crime to win elections, are now determined to remove democratically elected progressive prosecutors from office. These are effectively modern day coups meant to crush reform policies that voters supported in response to decades of mass incarceration and punitive policing measures.  News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you by Morey Creative Studios and Manny Faces Media. Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host:Manny Faces Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Chris Twarowski Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian Episode Art: Jeff Main Executive Producer: Jed Morey