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Introducing ‘Inside Voices’ – Washington City Paper

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Every month, Rob Barton has to make a choice. Should he call his mother, his son, or his wife? Barton is from D.C. but is currently incarcerated at USP Coleman I in central Florida, 846 miles from home.

He and other federal prisoners get 300 minutes of phone time per month, he says. Calls are limited to 15 minutes and are sporadically interrupted by a robotic voice reminding whomever is on the other end of the line, “This is a call from a federal prison.”

Barton has been incarcerated in Florida since 2016, with the exception of a brief stint in the D.C. Jail from 2019 to 2020, where he waited for a judge to rule on his motion for a reduced sentence; it was ultimately denied. He says the distance from home and the federal facility’s environs have changed him.

“For a long time, I didn’t realize how dehumanized I became,” says Barton, who was sentenced to 30 years to life at the age of 16. “The way they incarcerate in the federal system is counterproductive to rehabilitation.”

Violence is prevalent, and often stems from divisions of race, gang affiliation, and religion, he says.

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