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Ear Hustle: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Ear Hustle & Radiotopia
Ear Hustle is prison slang for eavesdropping, and that’s what listening to the show feels like: a raw, often funny, and always surprising peek into the reality of life inside prison. Hosts Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods co-created the show that launched in 2017 while Earlonne was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, where Nigel was a volunteer teaching photography. Since Earlonne’s release in 2018, the show has expanded to include stories from prisons across the state, including the California Institution for Women, as well as stories about getting out of prison and starting over, post-incarceration. From finding romance, to grappling with a life sentence, to trying to parent via 15-minute phone calls, Ear Hustle stories deliver what This American Life host Ira Glass calls a “very real” and “untragic” take on prison life.
Latest Episodes
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- 5 days ago38 min
Catch a Kite: On the Road
We solicited questions about life in prison from audience members at our live shows. Then, we took those questions into a couple prisons we'd never been to before — Folsom State Prison in California, and SCI Chester in Pennsylvania — and got answers. Subscribe to Ear Hustle Plus! Next week, Nigel takes EH+ subscribers on a mysterious "friend date." And coming up: a conversation with the Drexel University researcher who brought "Little Scandinavia" to a Pennsylvania prison. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts. Big thanks to the folks at SCI Chester in Pennsylvania, and Folsom State Prison in California, for showing us around and answering Catch a Kite questions for this episode. This episode was scored with music by Antwan Williams, David Jassy, and Derrell Sadiq Davis. Thanks, as always, to Warden Andes, Lt. Berry, and Sgt. Graves at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Padilla, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Avina at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Vogel at the Central California Women's Facility, for their support of the show. Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- 1 weeks ago33 min
From "Examined: The Backfire Effect"
Here's a preview from the new season of Examined, a podcast from Pushkin Industries that looks at the realities of incarceration from the perspective of a wrongful conviction. This season: The Backfire Effect. Nearly 40 years ago, in the parking lot of a community college in Michigan, a 20-year-old student was shot dead in broad daylight. The police quickly found their suspect. But there was a problem: The man said he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. And he could prove it. Journalist Josie Duffy Rice talks with eyewitnesses, investigators, and local reporters to unravel a story of judicial apathy and expedience. The Backfire Effect asks whether the system had already made up its mind about the suspect before it ever got to the facts. Find Examined: The Backfire Effect wherever you get podcasts, and hear the entire season, ad-free, right now by subscribing to Pushkin+. Sign up on the Examined show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.This is a sponsored feed drop. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- 2 weeks ago58 min
The Whole Night Was for Nothing
Two people are connected by a terrible crime, committed over 30 years ago. What do we owe the people we hurt, and how long does that debt endure? Subscribe to Ear Hustle Plus! In the feed this week: Earlonne and Nigel get a reading from San Quentin village's resident Mayan astrologer and clairvoyant. And coming up: Nigel takes EH+ subscribers on a mysterious "friend date." Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts. This episode was scored with music by Antwan Williams, David Jassy, Derrell Sadiq Davis, Bruce Wallace, and Earlonne Woods. Thanks, as always, to Warden Andes, Lt. Berry, and Sgt. Graves at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Padilla, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Avina at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Vogel at the Central California Women's Facility, for their support of the show. Thanks also to R. Hosea Collins at the Calvary Baptist Church of Hawthorne and Commissioner Robert Barton and the California Board of Parole. Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Sep 2, 202646 min
On the Margins
A psychic. An RV park. A one-room post office. San Quentin's prison gets all the headlines, but just over the wall, there's a whole other world to explore. This episode was scored with music by Antwan Williams, David Jassy, Derrell Sadiq Davis, Bruce Wallace, and Earlonne Woods. Thanks, as always, to Warden Andes, Lt. Berry, and Sgt. Graves at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Padilla, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Avina at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Vogel at the Central California Women's Facility, for their support of the show. Support our team and get even more Ear Hustle by subscribing to Ear Hustle Plus today. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts. Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Aug 12, 202635 min
CIW: The Magazine, Issue One
Rumors of a prison swimming pool, losing cherished memories to new technology, the right to housing in prison, and different ways of looking at a letter: Our first class of storytellers at the California Institution for Women dives deep into these subjects in the inaugural issue of CIW: The Magazine. This episode was scored with music by David Jassy, Antwan Williams, Darrell Sadiq Davis, and Earlonne Woods. Thanks to Acting Warden Padilla, Associate Warden Lewis, and PIO Avina at the California Institution for Women for supporting our work at CIW. Support our team and get even more Ear Hustle by subscribing to Ear Hustle Plus today. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts. Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Aug 5, 202620 min
Ear Hustle Presents: The Science of Happiness
We're sharing an episode from another PRX podcast, The Science of Happiness, which explores what science can tell us about living a happier, more meaningful life. We think Ear Hustle listeners might be especially interested in this episode, "Why You Can’t Do It Alone," which explores the role that the people around us play in shaping our success. It tells the story of two brothers, Danny and Gilbert Murillo, who have done time in California prisons. The brothers talk about how education, mentorship, and their evolving relationship helped them overcome incarceration and systemic barriers. Danny Murillo is the co-founder of Underground Scholars, a program that creates pathways to higher education for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and system-impacted people. Gilbert Murillo is a policy advocate and researcher who draws on his own experience with incarceration to reform California's criminal justice system. Bob McKinnon is an author, teacher, and Director of the Social Mobility Lab at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Jul 23, 202658 min
Revisiting "Last Memory: Linda"
Nigel reexamines the fourth episode in our Last Memory series, from December of 2024. Linda’s mom brought her to a Catholic Mass because she had a sense her daughter was on the verge of something, and needed help. Thirty-seven years into her prison sentence, Linda wonders what would have happened if she had listened to her mom, and Nigel and Earlonne visit the same chapel to see the place through Linda’s memory. Last Memory: MichaelLast Memory: Ryan and EarlonneLast Memory: LeishaThis episode was scored with music by Derrell Sadiq Davis, Antwan Williams, Fernando Arruda, David Jassy, Bruce Wallace, and Earlonne Woods.Big thanks to Warden Andes, Lt. Berry, and Sgt. Graves at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Padilla, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Avina at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Vogel at the Central California Women’s Facility for their support of the show.Support our team and get even more Ear Hustle by subscribing to Ear Hustle Plus today. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts. Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Jul 8, 202634 min
Behind the Scenes: “Bag of Skittles” and “Over and Over and Over and Over”
Could telling Sadiq and Demarion’s story actually make things worse between them? And were we right to be concerned that SQ's public information officer wouldn't sign off on a story about penis modification? For our latest editorial roundtable, the outside team sits down to discuss two recent episodes: “Bag of Skittles” and “Over and Over and Over and Over.” Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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About Ear Hustle
Ear Hustle is prison slang for eavesdropping, and that’s what listening to the show feels like: a raw, often funny, and always surprising peek into the reality of life inside prison. Hosts Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods co-created the show that launched in 2017 while Earlonne was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison, where Nigel was a volunteer teaching photography. Since Earlonne’s release in 2018, the show has expanded to include stories from prisons across the state, including the California Institution for Women, as well as stories about getting out of prison and starting over, post-incarceration. From finding romance, to grappling with a life sentence, to trying to parent via 15-minute phone calls, Ear Hustle stories deliver what This American Life host Ira Glass calls a “very real” and “untragic” take on prison life.
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