Liberated Voices

Welcome to our first issue. The Lakota LockUp Project advocates for American Indians affected by the justice system, to support innovative approaches for cultural and historical trauma survival, rebuilding lives, economic justice, traditional family services, substance and alcohol abuse treatment, and equal access to education, thus strengthening communities.

In this issue you will hear audio recordings of native people currently doing time inside prisons and jails in the upper midwest United States, including an interview with the Lakota LockUp Project’s director, Robert Horse Stands Waiting, and board member, Theresa Prettyboy Tracke, by Shaldon Ferris with Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Rights Radio. We also hear from an Indigenous man who worked as a counselor in the South Dakota prison system. And lastly, we post the story and video interview of an Oneida man who, after almost 18 years, was freed from a Wisconsin prison for a murder he did not commit.

Interview with Robert Horse Stands Waiting & Theresa Prettyboy Tracke

Produced by Shaldon Ferris (Khoisan)
Voices: Robert Horse Stands Waiting (Lakota) and Theresa Prettyboy Tracke (Lakota)
Music (used with permission):

• “LIBRES Y VIVAS,” by Mare Advetencia.
• “Burn your village to the ground,” by the Halluci Nation

“I am just a free thinking Lakota man, dedicated to being one single string of fabric that covers humanity. Although, I am free thinking, my Cante (heart) leads me to believe the Creator gives us the compassion to find our true selves and blesses our calling to help our fellow human with the help of friends and the opportunity to shed light! Thank you for being apart of Lakota LockUp Project where we strive to provide a voice and give some light to marginalized of the marginalized!” —Robert Horse Stands Waiting