Nebraska inmate punished for speaking on wife’s podcast
Calling from a prison phone in Nebraska, Nicholas Ely joined his wife, Julie Montpetit, for an episode of Montpetit’s podcast, “More Than an Inmate’s Girlfriend,” which aims to destigmatize relationships like theirs. Afterwards, Montpetit lost all contact with her husband. Now, Ely is suing several employees in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, alleging that he has faced unlawful retaliation for appearing on the podcast and that his constitutional rights, including his right to free speech, were violated. In this episode of “Rattling the Bars,” host Mansa Musa speaks with Montpetit about losing contact with her husband and about the status of his lawsuit.
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Mansa Musa:
Welcome to this edition of Rattling the Bars. I’m your host Mansa Musa. I remember when I was locked up in prison, one of the most celebrity cases that came out in Nebraska was Nebraska versus Greenho. And in Nebraska versus Greenho, it was a case that dealt specifically with parole. But when it dealt with parole, it dealt with mandatory language. In Nebraska, it said that if a person does A, B, C, D, E, F, G, they will be paroled. And so when a person came up to be paroled because they did A, B, C, D, E, F, G, the department of correction in Nebraska denied them parole. The Supreme Court ultimately waived in on say that this particular rule was law and therefore it was mandatory and had to force the Lord and person should
‘A soul-sucking, desolate hell’: How I survived America’s most secretive supermax prison
Eric King is a father, poet, activist, and anarchist who was imprisoned in 2014 for acts of solidarity with the Ferguson, MO, uprising in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown. While locked up, King endured years of documented physical and psychological torture, spending the last 18 months of his sentence in the ADX supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with King about how he survived his incarceration “with heart and soul intact,” and about King’s new book, A Clean Hell: Anarchy and Abolition in America’s Most Notorious Dungeon, in which he “opens the doors of America’s most secretive prison and lets the reader step into the cell to experience all the horrors the Federal Bureau of Prisons tries to keep hidden underground.”
Guest:
Eric King is an anarchist who was imprisoned in 2014 for acts of solidarity with the Ferguson, Missouri, uprising. While in federal custody King was indicted for a self-defense incident at FCI-Florence. King took it to trial and is one of the few people to ever win such a case at a federal trial. After his legal victory, King was sent to the federal supermax ADX, where he spent most of his final two years of his prison bid. During his time in prison King coedited the political prisoner anthology Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners. King survived years of documented physical and psychological torture and made it out of prison with heart and soul intact. He is an activist, antifascist, and loving father and husband who lives in Denver, CO.
Additional links/info:
Eric King, PM Press, A