Ear Hustle

Inside producers Tam and Sadiq take over the mic to introduce us to a (mostly) new crop of musicians heard out on the yard at San Quentin. And: some big news from an OG friend of the show.  Subscribe to Ear Hustle Plus! Coming up: a never-before-aired interview recorded right after Earlonne was released from prison. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts.  This episode was s...

Jack spent 35 years in a security housing unit, aka "the hole," and he’s got some stories to tell.  You can hear more about Jack's story on the PBS documentary The Strike .  Subscribe to Ear Hustle Plus! Last week, Nigel took Ear Plustlers on a mysterious "friend date." On our next Plus episode, Nigel and Earlonne talk to the Drexel University researcher who brought "Little Scandinavia" to a Penns...

E and Nyge would like a quick word.  Sign up for Ear Hustle Plus at earhustlesq.com/plus .  (Supercast subscribers: Keep an eye on your email for instructions on how to set up your new EH+ feed.) Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia , from PRX.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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 Un...

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 pr...

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....

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 Pad...

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 Earl...

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...

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 Ra...

Earlonne relistens to the final episode of Ear Hustle’s first season, about one official and one unofficial way to get out of prison.  Steve, Danny, Phillip, and Ron are all trying to make their way out of prison. In our final episode of the season, these men share their stories of going through the parole hearing process, and contemplate life on the outside after being incarcerated for decades. B...

Even though they share a difficult past, Sadiq and Demarion had never met in person, and it was probably best that it stayed that way. When an event at San Quentin brought them together, Demarion faced an agonizing choice.  This episode was scored with music by Derrell Sadiq Davis, Demarion English, David Jassy, and Antwan Williams.  Thanks, as always, to Warden Andes, Lt. Berry, and Sgt. Graves a...

At North Kern State Prison, incarcerated people are being trained to do what staff cannot: provide peer support, whether it’s with addiction, cellie drama, or just adjusting to prison life. Nigel and Earlonne pay a couple visits, and hit some walls along the way.  This episode was scored with music by Antwan Williams, David Jassy, Dwight Krisman, and Derrell Sadiq Davis.  Big thanks to PIO Lt. Huc...

From obsessive body-building to extreme tattoos and other transformations: stories about the ways people in prison think about and try to change their bodies. Plus: “the California body,” explained.  This episode was scored with music by Antwan Williams, David Jassy, Dwight Krisman, and Derrell Sadiq Davis.  Big thanks to Warden Andes, Lt. Berry, and Sgt. Graves at San Quentin Rehabilitation Cente...

Nigel says no matter where you are, everyone has a story to tell about a hug: good, bad, or awkward. Earlonne isn’t buying it.  Thanks to Alonzo, Deonza, Harmon, Maurice, Ralph, Carlos, Michael, and Rocky for speaking to us on the yard at San Quentin.  This episode was scored with music by David Jassy, Antwan Williams, Earlonne Woods, Derell Sadiq Davis, and Bruce Wallace. Big thanks to Warden And...

For our latest installment in the ”revisiting” series, Nigel and Earlonne time-travel back to Season 4 and the uncertain futures of men who were living on San Quentin’s now-shuttered death row.   Big thanks to everyone who shared their stories with us for this episode: Al aka Watson Allison, Abu Qadir Al-Amin, Lt. Sam Robinson, and Lonnie Morris. This episode was scored with music by Antwan Willia...

The last time Domonica saw her dad, he was behind prison glass and she was just six years old. Now, more than two decades later, they’re trying to rebuild their relationship. But a few things stand in the way.  This episode was scored with music by David Jassy, Antwan Williams, and Bruce Wallace. Big thanks to Warden Andes, Lt. Berry, and Sgt. Graves at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Wa...

The letters come from all over: incarcerated men and women listening to Ear Hustle on their tablets, fans tuning in from as far as Australia and the Philippines. Most of the time, the feedback is positive — but not always. On this first-ever letters episode, we follow up with a few of those listeners.  Thank you to Caroline, Gabby, and Jennifer, for talking to us for this episode.  This episode wa...

From beatboxing, to blues, to a song of praise once heard in the Met Museum, musicians in San Quentin have created some indelible songs. And we have featured a number of them on Ear Hustle. In this episode, Earlonne and Nigel listen back to some of their favorites.   You can hear more of the music we’ve featured on Ear Hustle here , and watch Silas Farley’s “Songs from the Spirit” at the Met here...

Earlonne brings his second selection from the archives: an episode from Ear Hustle’s first season about how people care for each other in a harsh place.  Dealing with aging and death is never easy. But in prison, these issues are fraught with extra challenges, both emotional and physical. Meet two inmates serving extended sentences who grapple with the idea of dying in prison, and have also steppe...

At the start of a new year, Nigel revisits an episode about time passing and one man’s experience of four decades behind bars: our 2023 episode “Saber-Toothed Cat.” What’s the difference between an over-under and a lower-lower? How many pairs of underwear do you get in prison? And how long does a bar of soap last? We spend an entire episode with one San Quentin OG who schools us on the history of...

For the final episode of our all-NYC series, we take the train uptown to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, where a group of incarcerated dads from Rikers Island are playing games, eating lunch, and doing arts and crafts with their kids.  This is the sixth episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-part series about kids in New York City who are caught up, one way or another, in the criminal justice...

Kaysha is in her early 20s: low on resources, but big on dreams. Sometimes, those dreams feel tantalizingly close to reality; other times, she's pulled back into a life she badly wants to leave behind. We follow Kaysha for a year and a half as she tries to break out of the loop.  This is the fifth episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-part series about kids in New York City who are caught up, on...

Boys at Crossroads outnumber girls 10 to one, but if you ask staff about who’s harder to work with, it’s the girls, hands down. To find out for ourselves and learn more about life on the girls’ hall, we follow two sisters who have cycled in and out of New York’s juvenile justice system.  This is the fourth episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-part series about kids in New York City who are caug...

At Crossroads, just three little letters — SMD — can spark some very big drama. This episode is all about conflict: watching it, responding to it, and getting it started. Keys fly, milk is thrown, and insults are hurled, while adults and kids figure out how to deal with it and keep the peace. This is the third episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-part series about kids in New York City who are...