The FreeHer Podcast

Conspiracy Charges Are Putting Women Away for 10 Years (Andrea James)

Andrea James, Founder & Executive Director of The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls and host of the FreeHer Podcast, breaks down how conspiracy charges, mandatory minimums, and the drug war have devastated women, families, and entire communities. This conversation connects lived experience to policy: why prisons dehumanize, what abolition actually means, and what “accountability without cages” can look like.Links mentioned/referenced in the episode:The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls [https://www.nationalcouncil.us]FreeHer Campaign (National Council) [https://www.nationalcouncil.us/clemency-works]The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander) (book referenced in discussion)FCI Dublin closure context (referred to in episode) ⏰ Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:56 Who Andrea James is 06:57 “Upper bunkie” + what prison looked like11:04 Sentenced while breastfeeding + the court’s callousness14:20 Conspiracy charges + mandatory minimums (why women get 10 years)18:52 “Fight for dignity” inside women’s prisons22:10 The New Jim Crow + the roots of mass incarceration25:24 Abolition ≠ no accountability27:32 Decriminalizing drugs as public health29:22 “Closest to the problem, closest to the solutions.”32:42 Language shift: “incarcerated mother” vs “inmate.”36:14 Where “FreeHer” came from + movement originFollow the FreeHer Movement on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/thecouncilus?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==]Learn more about the movement 🔗 Learn more [https://www.nationalcouncil.us | freehercampaign.org]

How Police & Media Keep Us Afraid of the Wrong Things | Alec Karakatsanis

Most of what we’re told about crime, public safety, and policing is shaped by police and media propaganda. In this episode of the FreeHer Podcast, civil rights lawyer Alec Karakatsanis breaks down how the police and media manipulate our fear of crime, who actually benefits, and what real community safety looks like.This conversation exposes the deeper harms like pollution, wage theft, and corporate crime that never make the news.Alec Karakatsanis is the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps and author of Propaganda: How the Police and Media Manipulate Our News. Hosted by Andrea James, founder of the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.🌐 Learn more about Alec’s work:Civil Rights Corps: https://www.civilrightscorps.orgRight to Hug Campaign: https://righttohug.orgStop LAPD Spying Coalition: https://www.stoplapdspying.org📚 Books by Alec Karakatsanis:Propaganda: How the Police and Media Manipulate Our NewsUsual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System📲 Follow Alec:@EqualityAlec on social mediaFollow the FreeHer Movement on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/thecouncilus?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==Learn more about the movement 🔗 Learn more: https://www.nationalcouncil.us | freehercampaign.org

Abolish Cash Bail: Why “Pay to Be Free” Makes Us Less Safe

Cash bail isn’t about safety it’s about money. In this FreeHer episode, Andrea James sits with Jasmine Borges (Massachusetts Bail Fund) and Rena Kafa Johnson (FWD.us) to break down how pretrial detention punishes poverty, why “dangerousness hearings” expand incarceration, and what actually keeps communities safe. We talk real numbers, real harms, and real solutions, including bail funds, clemency, and bringing our people home.Massachusetts Bail Fund: https://www.massbailfund.org/Families for Justice as Healing: https://www.justiceashealing.org/Learn about the FreeHer Campaign: https://www.nationalcouncil.us/clemency-works

She Was 17 They Sentenced Her to Die in Prison | Juvenile Life Without Parole

At 17 years old, straight-A student Michelle Pearson was sentenced to life without parole and spent 34 years in prison. In this episode of the FreeHer Podcast, Andrea James talks with Michelle and Dr. Raf about juvenile life without parole, the science of the adolescent brain, and why the U.S. keeps sentencing Black children, especially Black girls, to die in prison.We talk about Miller v. Alabama, reentry after decades inside, and what it really means to say, “We’re not free until we’re all free.”🔗 Learn more: https://www.nationalcouncil.us | freehercampaign.org

How Federal Restitution Keeps Women in Debt Forever | FreeHer Podcast

In this powerful episode, Andrea James speaks with law professor Cortney Lollar, author of Empty Pockets and Empty Promises, and justice advocates Tanya Pierce and Mary Kay Rogers about how federal restitution law traps women in lifelong debt even after they’ve served their time. 💡 Learn more about the FreeHer Campaign:🔗 https://www.nationalcouncil.us/clemency-works