In this interview, Heather Ann Thompson discusses her work on prisoner exploitation and prison activism. She says that activists, prisoner allies, and the media are necessary to protect the incarcerated from harsh and repressive practices. Thompson says: “The public has a right to know what is going on in these institutions. They are public, they are funded by the people, and we have a right to know what is happening in them. And the more the media keeps pushing, the more we will know. And lawyers need to be showing up and protecting these guys. We need that same effort today, because without it, prisoners are extraordinarily vulnerable to whatever the state chooses to do with them.”

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