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There are many ways to search the collections of the Freedom Archives. Below is a brief guide that will help you conduct effective searches. Note, anytime you search for anything in the Freedom Archives, the first results that appear will be our digitized items. Information for items that have yet to be scanned or yet to be digitized can still be viewed, but only by clicking on the show link that will display the hidden (non-digitized) items. If you are interested in accessing these non-digitized materials, please email info@freedomarchives.org.
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Basic Searching
You can always type what you’re looking for into the search bar. Certain searches may generate hundreds of results, so sometimes it will help to use quotation marks to help narrow down your results. For instance, searching for the phrase Black Liberation will generate all of our holdings that contain the words Black and Liberation, while searching for “Black Liberation” (in quotation marks) will only generate our records that have those two words next to each other.
Advanced Searching
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Keyword Searches
You’ll notice that under the heading KEYWORDS, there are a number of words, phrases or names that describe content. Sometimes these are also called “tags.” Clicking on these words is essentially the same as conducting a basic search.

Freedom Archives Productions

These materials were used in various Freedom Archives productions released between 2000 and 2013.

Subcollections

Documents

Lexington Prison Interviews 1987 Lexington Prison Interviews 1987
Date: 5/1/1987Call Number: CD 779Format: CDProducers: Judy GerberCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Alejandrina Torres, Silvia Baraldini, and Susan Rosenberg describe their living conditions at the control unit of the federal women’s prison in Lexington which opened in 1986. The interviews stress the importance of public pressure to have the unit closed.
Pelican Bay Program (1 of 2) Pelican Bay Program (1 of 2)
Date: 10/1/1991Call Number: CD 781Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Corey Weinstein and Catherine Campbell discuss their trip to Pelican Bay Prison as part of a legal delegation affiliated with the Real Dragon Prison Project. Included are descriptions of Control Units and the infamous "SHU de-briefing” techniques, as well as the prison system’s use of informants and the effects of the psychological torture used against prisoners. Weinstein and Campbell also dispel some of the myths surrounding the "worst of the worst" label put on many prisoners housed in Pelican Bay and expose the roundup of antiauthoritarian and prisoner with organizing and leadership potential.
Pelican Bay Program (2 of 2) Pelican Bay Program (2 of 2)
Date: 10/1/1991Call Number: CD 782Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
CONTINUED FROM PM 220: Corey Weinstein and Catherine Campbell continue their discussion of the conditions within the Pelican Bay Prison. Weinstein and Campbell elaborate on the relationships between different prison groups, guard torture and brutality, and the economic condition and opinions of the communities surrounding Pelican Bay Prison.
Pelican Bay Prisoners Pelican Bay Prisoners
Date: 1/15/1996Call Number: CD 792Format: CDProducers: Prison Activist Resource CenterProgram: On The OutsideCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Corey Weinstein and Leslie DiBenedetto discuss the Pelican Bay Information Project (PBIP) and its efforts to end prisoner abuse. Also includes an interview with a prisoner who speaks about prisoner resistance, human rights and conditions.
Political Prisoners in US Control Units Political Prisoners in US Control Units
Date: 1/24/1992Call Number: CD 797Format: CDProgram: KPFA BrainstormCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Discussion of Control Unit prisons with interviews by Bo Rita Brown. Interview with Dr. Corey Weinstein, and Political Prisoners Susan Rosenberg and Sylvia Baraldini while imprisoned at Marianna, Florida.
NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit NPR Report on Lexington Control Unit
Date: 10/1/1986Call Number: CD 819Format: CassetteProducers: National Public RadioCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Jacki Lyden reports on the lawsuit challenging the placement of Susan Rosenberg, Alejandrina Torres and Sylvia Beraldini in the Lexington control unit, which resulted in Lexington's closure.
Interview with Susan Rosenberg and Josefina Rodriguez Interview with Susan Rosenberg and Josefina Rodriguez
Call Number: CD 799Format: CDProducers: Sally O’Brian, Terry BissonCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interview with Susan Rosenberg, an American revolutionary anti-imperialist female political prisoner, about Lexington prison. Susan Rosenberg describes the focus of Lexington as “the psychological element of incarceration to disintegrate the personality”. She speaks about the terribly harsh and restrictive conditions of Lexington, as well as the psychological impact of the prison. Rosenberg speaks about how every prisoner is there for political reasons, as the control unit is not based on disciplinary measures, but on classification who and what the prisoners are associated with. Susan Rosenberg’s attorney, Michael Schubert, speaks about the isolation and solitary confinement the Lexington prisoners experience, and how such isolation is aimed at keeping the prisoners isolated from politics.