In our very first episode, host Michelle Browder sits down with the man who started it all — her father, Chaplain Curtis "Chap" Browder. Appointed by Governor George Wallace in 1978 as Alabama's first Black prison chaplain, Chap has spent nearly five decades walking into the state's prisons and refusing to look away. In this conversation, he opens up about the voice that called him back to Alabama, the violence he survived as a young man in Jim Crow Birmingham, an unforgettable encounter with George Wallace decades later, and the moment a five-day school suspension — and ten tubes of paint — set his daughter on the path to becoming an artist and activist. Along the way, Chap reflects on what real prison ministry looks like, why women are the fastest-growing population behind bars, and why he still won't stop working the yard after five o'clock.

This episode also previews the Alabama Strategy, a three-day gathering October 1st–3rd in Montgomery, Alabama, bringing together faith leaders, attorneys, and advocates — including Bryan Stevenson and Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr. — to confront mass incarceration and the growing crisis of women giving birth behind bars. Register at chaplainbrowder.org.

Thanks for listening to the Listen To Me Good Podcast:

Visit us here: https://www.anarchalucybetsey.org/

- or -

Connect with us on social media here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1HKLufvTJV/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/themothersofgynecology

Support the show

She was born behind bars. Now she's telling her story. In this clip from Listen to Me Good, Michelle Browder and Chaplain Curtis Browder preview Born Captive, the upcoming film from Starling Thomas — a woman born in prison whose story exposes what really happens when incarcerated women give birth behind bars. It's a preview of the conversations driving the Alabama Strategy, a three-day summit October 1st–3rd in Montgomery, Alabama, confronting mass incarceration and the growing crisis facing women in the justice system. Watch the full episode of Listen to Me Good now.

Support the show