National Media Reform in Memphis

Jones, whose organization promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration, called the jail "a huge slave ship on dry land" that would "create a new Jim Crow."

"You don't have to call somebody the N-word if you can call him a felon," he said.

The predominantly white, middle-age crowd applauded.

On the eve of Martin Luther King Day, Jones, an African-American, offered a politically charged talk with repeated references to the civil rights leader.

Calling the conference a "movement," Jones said the people in attendance have gathered strength from President George W. Bush's failures.

"Bush's presidency drowned in the flood waters of Katrina," he said.