The Hustler Files

Amanda Hall had it all. A flourishing restaurant career as a Regional Training Manager and even her own home. But for Amanda all of that was a facade. Inside she says, ‘I was a mess’.  The wrong choice in men, and late nights with friends at the restaurants she trained at, along with rheumatoid arthritis led her from alcohol to cannabis to hard core drugs.  As her life story played out, she eventu...

Alicia and Jenna both grew up in middle-class, 2 parent homes.  Alicia was a top student and leader in her school.  Jenna went to a private school and had a typical teenage life.  But while Alicia and Jenna lived 3000 miles apart their stories became intertwined because they both became victims of human trafficking while still in High School. Even worse, the men that trafficked them, were known to...

Terah Lawyer is the first to tell you that her lived experience as a formerly incarcerated woman, absolutely fell into the ‘wrong place, wrong crowd, wrong time’ adage.  Terah spent 15 years behind the wall, but realized early on, in her incarceration, that her mission was, as she states, “to love on the women” who were behind the wall with her.  Taking that leadership role in prison and continuin...

There are three comparisons one can make between the musical South Pacific and the Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay. Number 1, both involve islands, Number 2, both involve the U.S. Military and Number 3, both are created after a significant interaction with warring factions – World War II and September 11th.  Guantanamo Bay, also referred to as Gitmo, is in Cuba and the military prison there first opene...

In 2003, Scott Budnick was an EVP at Green Hat Films. One evening he was invited to attend a writing workshop at the juvenile hall through the InsideOUT Writers program.  Many of the young people in that program were facing adult prison sentences, and even worse, when released from the juvenile halls and prisons across California, many were returned to incarceration.  So, the man whose day job was...

In the very male dominated field of Ironworkers, Bricklayers and Cement Masons, otherwise referred to as the Trades, a guiding light to help justice impacted WOMEN succeed after prison, has taken shape.  Outside of Seattle, Washington, Business Agent, Heather Kurtenbach is leading the charge to see women who are nearing the end of their time behind the wall, participate in a program called TRAC, T...

Imagine spending a full day, as a volunteer, sitting right next to, or across from, a justice impacted person, except you’re behind the wall with them! You’re shaking their hand, sharing ideas, their ideas to transform their lives, maybe start a business when they get released, and at the end of the day, watching them put on a cap and gown, maybe the first they ever had, and walk across a stage to...

Here in the U.S., there is a belief that the education and workforce systems are broken.  At Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national non-profit, they believe it’s time to tap the full potential, skills, and aspirations of more than 70 million people with records, living in the U.S.  As part of JFF’s commitment to that effort, they created the JFF Center for Justice & Economic Advancement.  Under...

No one could ever accuse Liz Buxton, Director of Operations at the Western MA Food Processing Center, of having a small heart, especially when it comes to Fair Chance Hiring. Even her wife wrote about her on LinkedIn after this episode aired on @WHMP Radio.  ‘My wife constantly amazes me. She's an incredible human and inspirational leader. She leads with her heart. It's what makes her, and her imp...

Sheriff Patrick Cahillane will tell you that as an elected official of the people, his first responsibility is to the community. But as part of that citizen responsibility, Sheriff Cahillane is also progressive in his thought processes and actions, and as such implements programs and opportunities that will not only help those in his charge, behind the wall, but also those who are released and are...

Kristy Norbert may look like a typical soccer Mom, but ask her about her non-profit organization the Empower HER Network, it’s 11 locations across the U.S. and how every day, she and her team which includes trauma-informed Advocates and former Survivors (the name given to those who have found their way out of a human trafficking situation), are operating from the exit ramp for those who are still...

It’s hard to imagine someone spending 24 years in prison, let alone 10 of those in solitary confinement, but 5 years after his release, he’s the Vice President of Social Responsibility at tech innovator CHECKR, and Executive Director of their corporate foundation, Checkr.org.  This is the journey of Ken Oliver.  In the broad landscape of fair chance hiring, Ken knows firsthand the barriers that fa...

Take a moment and think about that time when someone accused you of saying or doing something that you did not do AND no one will believe you! For those who have been wrongfully convicted and locked up behind the wall the emotional torture of knowing you are innocent is unimaginable.  But if you are fortunate to connect with Mike Semanchik, Executive Director of the San Diego, California, Innocenc...

To be a paid journalist writing about prison life and the barriers of justice impacted individuals is one of the two pillars that Ryan Moser represents. The other pillar is that Ryan also has the lived experience of incarceration.  After 8 years in prison for a property crime due to his addiction, Ryan has emerged from behind the wall to use his lived experience and unique writing skills to advoca...

For three decades, Jean Trounstine has dedicated her life to being a storyteller, activist, educator, and theatre Director in the criminal legal system.  She came upon her calling while working as an educator at the Women’s Prison in Framingham, Mass, where over the course of a decade she directed eight plays for the incarcerated women, groundbreaking work that resulted in her highly praised book,...

Rewind 25 years, and for most men, their parenting role was that of bread winner and disciplinarian, like their father before them, and so on.  Mark Perlman, a licensed social worker and councilor saw an opportunity to change that dynamic while the Executive Director of his wife’s counseling center.  As Mark so aptly puts it, “I started writing a program that would offer fathers a workbook guide,...

Her team at NBC Universal Filmed Entertainment refers to her as an “inspiration for change”. She herself has faced prejudices throughout her life, but as a HR Professional in the entertainment industry for over 25 years, and now SVP of Human Resources, Globally, Hoai Scott, has played a key role in educating leaders in diversity and inclusion, leading with purpose and creating a culture of inclusi...

In 1989 two horrific crimes took place in New York City.  The first was the rape and almost death of the woman who would be come to know as the Central Park jogger.  The second was the arrest, interrogations, and ultimate prison sentencing of five Black and Latino teenagers, for that crime. A crime they would later be exonerated for, in 2002.   It was during her senior year of college in 2003, whi...

Noelle Hanrahan was 57 when she attended law school.  As a founding member of Prison Radio dot org, Noelle realized that it wasn’t enough to just be a journalist and broadcast the voices of those incarcerated individuals who were brave enough to speak out about prison treatment and conditions, she needed to find a way to get their release.  Prison Radio stories serve as catalysts for policy change...

Venturing Out is the antithesis of what most women behind the wall at MCI Framingham (Massachusetts) will ever be granted.  Yet for Beth Goldstein and Elizabeth Swanson their in-prison initiative, Venturing Out, offers so much more than the literal description of their program.  For Beth and Elizabeth, whose day job is as educators at Babson College, to go behind the wall to empower and educate th...

For most adults in the U.S. their only exposure to the criminal justice proceeding, known as parole, is what they see on film.  But the actual details behind parole hearings, those who qualify, and the process for those incarcerated to receive their freedom is not for the faint of heart.  As Attorney Ryan Schiff says, “In a parole hearing, we as attorney’s must take a back seat and no longer be th...

In January 2024, the criminal justice system progressed for many in Massachusetts and digressed for those on death row in Alabama.  In Massachusetts, Attorney Ryan Schiff and others ligated a landmark decision where it is now unconstitutional to sentence any adult, under the age of 21, to life without parole. This new law, in Massachusetts, currently affects 200 incarcerated individuals. The door...

With 10 million job roles open, employers today not only need to broaden their search parameters, but they need to retain the employees they hire.  Across the U.S. there are organizations popping up to assist employers by re-imagining how they hire and teaching them how to combat the biases that political unrest, structural racism, and increased mental health conditions have levied on the workforc...

The murder of George Floyd was a catalyst for an onslaught of positive change in so many areas of our society, and no more so than in Chicago where business leaders came together to address the economic and racial inequities across all the neighborhoods in the Chicago region.  Out of that confab came the Corporate Coalition of Chicago with more than 40 members of the Chicago business community, 23...

In Episode 45, Attorney Ada Lin of Prisoners’ Legal Services in Boston, Massachusetts discussed the need for the pending House and Senate Bill that would allow for a more compassionate release of those incarcerated individuals who were terminally ill or permanently incapacitated and facing an end-of-life situation.  In this episode, Ada Lin returns with Dr. Alice Bukhman, an Emergency Department M...