The Hustler Files

The Medical Parole House and Senate Bill, in Massachusetts, is described as the following: To ensure that the medical parole works as the Legislature originally intended by providing a measure of public decency toward incarcerated people who are terminally ill or permanently incapacitated while ensuring public safety. This Massachusetts House Bill was written by local Massachusetts House Represent...

While Stephanie and Corey have vastly different backgrounds and stories, the common thread for both is not only their association with the AISS program at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, but their passion to use their past to help change other’s futures.  The paths they chose to lead after overcoming lifestyles that ran the gamut from false accusations and wrongful arrests to domestic violenc...

When a legendary lawyer and a legal scholar reveal the structural failures that undermine justice in our criminal courts, the result is an absolute MUST READ aptly named The Fear of Too Much Justice.  While this is not the first book for authors Stephen Bright and James Kwak, it is their first collaboration that offers a heart-wrenching overview of how the criminal legal system fails to live up to...

Massachusetts House Representative Lindsay Sabadosa’s path to politics probably started at the age of nine, when she held a protest march over the closing of her beloved town library.  Yet it took a few more decades of working in the private sector before she launched her political career.  While Representative Sabadosa takes up the flaming sword in a variety of arenas, she has a deep passion for...

Justin Brooks will tell you that, as the Founder of the California Innocence Project, he was just following his passion as a criminal justice attorney to exonerate those who were falsely accused and spending decades in prison.  He may only have been in his twenties when he launched the California Innocence Project, but as of 2023, Justin has received exoneration for 40 such individuals and travels...

If you were hoping to hear how Brian Banks overcame the adversity and punishment that was thrown at him in Part 1 of our interview, then here it is!  You’ll hear how Brian stayed ‘sane’ despite his time behind the wall, his home life, that still felt like jail, while on parole, and the knowledge that he’d always live in a societal prison with a sex offender stamp on his record.  That was until cri...

Here, in part 1 of a 2-part episode, is the heartfelt and triumphant journey of Brian Banks. If you don’t know who Brian Banks is, he’s worth a google. Not only did Brian defy the odds, transitioning from wrongful conviction and 5 years imprisonment to NFL dreams and beyond, his story is one of relentless determination, resilience, and the pursuit of a vision.  In this first episode, Brian shares...

Joe LaFratta will tell you that he ‘fell into’ what became his specialty during his 30-year career as a United States Probation Officer. To hear his story, there is no doubt that he made a difference in many lives, while navigating a subject that for most, is difficult at best.  Although retired, Joe continues his work through his mentorship with the organization, Recovery Works, and consulting wi...

How many times has someone said, ‘I did the best I could with what I had…it’s not like I had a parent manual to follow’.  But, in actuality, there is a manual. Since its publication in 1988, A Nurturing Father’s Journal/Workbook by Mark Perlman, has been adopted by jails and prisons across the U.S. These workbooks are the basis for a 12-week Nurturing Father’s program that is taught by certified t...

  To understand the healing and opportunity behind the wall in the Franklin County Jail in Massachusetts, one must only sit with those who are serving time despite their confinement.  The Franklin County Jail may be a rural jail, but the programs for the incarcerated men and women, whether they be serving short- or long-term sentences, offer many stability, connection and a pathway to a brighter f...

The quote “To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world” could not be truer than for the Executive Director of the Easthampton, Massachusetts Community Center, Robin Bialecki.  Not only does Robin and her team help 3600 families a month with food and clothing, but she also provides for the children of incarcerated men at the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office.  A defin...

The Dalai Lama defines compassions as “a sensitivity to the suffering of others, with a commitment to do something about it”.  Cheri Garcia, a social innovator and Founder of the second chance staffing firm, Cornbread Hustle, knows all too well about addiction, recovery and the challenges those with a record face upon re-entering society.  Cheri’s trajectory to launch Cornbread Hustle, and become...

The percentage of women incarcerated is minute in comparison to that of men, but their struggles to overcome the traumas that led them to drug addiction, anger or alcoholism is equal if not greater than the same wounds of their male counterparts.  Meet Ashley and Sarah, one is still behind the wall in the pre-trial treatment unit and the other is now post release and working to create the new life...

As a prelude to the upcoming Episode 33, we thought we'd re-air an interview we featured a few months back to set the stage for that future episode. Twenty million Americans struggle with alcohol.  For Melissa, it was a triple threat - alcohol, drugs, and anger. From the very young age of 11 till her 37th birthday, Melissa led the worst side of hustling to keep her addictions and adrenaline fed. ...

Back at Episode 26, Ed Hayes and Levin Schwartz of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Western Massachusetts stopped by to share some snippets of their work behind the wall, their travels and education of best practices to states and counties that are not as forward moving as Franklin County, and the factual research behind the high levels of incarceration.  With much left on the table, Ed and...

You might not think incarceration and entrepreneurship have a common thread, but they do.  Many who become incarcerated were arrested for illegal activities, for which, an entrepreneurial mindset was part of their ill begotten success.  Even once behind the wall, many continue with their nefarious activities.  Eli was just such a person, and thus was put on 24/7 house arrest to attempt to curb his...

It may not be commonplace to find vocational training behind the wall, but more and more jails and prisons are bringing a variety of industries, inside, not only to generate revenue, but also to offer training to those who are incarcerated, so they have better opportunities for jobs upon returning to the community.  From culinary to welding, and building trades to sewing, local jails, like the Ham...

‘To be a transformational leader and coach, you must deeply understand what you are transforming’.  This quote by an unknown author was perfectly suited to this week’s conversation with a District Attorney in Western Mass who has two counties, 47 towns, six Courts, and a myriad of worker bees under his care.  With more than 33 years of public service, DA David Sullivan is changing the prosecution...

NOTE:  TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES PREVENTED THE AIRING OF A NEW SHOW THIS WEEK, SO ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES AND ENJOY A FLASHBACK TO ONE OF THE HUSTLER FILES MORE POPULAR SHOWS! WE’LL BE BACK WITH A NEW EPISODE FOR SHOW #28 NEXT WEEK! Bruce Willis, THE Actor, has a quote, ‘You Can’t Undo The Past, But You Can Certainly Not Repeat It’.  Many people residing behind the wall have experienced disciplinary iss...

Criminal Justice and Prison Reform may vary from State to State, but for those who understand that trauma is at the core of most incarcerated individuals, the key goal to their success, both behind the wall and upon returning to society, is to keep moving forward.  Sadly, not all jails and prisons consider the value of moving incarcerated individuals forward.  Thanks to researchers and change make...

Keron McHugh may have seemed like just another black-market bad boy when the Feds arrested him in 2010, but they never could have guessed that incarceration would actually be the change that Keron needed to find in himself.  In his seven years behind the wall, Keron not only read over 1,000 books (to self-educate) but was encouraged by his cell-mates to pursue the art of tattooing with only the ra...

In 2010, Venture Capitalist, Chris Redlitz spoke to incarcerated men at the infamous San Quentin Prison. That visit inspired him to launch a technical program, for those incarcerated, that would disrupt the incarceration cycle and offer certifications in coding to enable those returning to society the opportunity to find employment.  The Last Mile technical program is now offered in 21 classrooms...

When a house of corrections is located in a rural, farming area, it’s a no-brainer to include a gardening program in the vocational and educational offerings to those incarcerated.  The ‘students’ of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office get both classroom, and hands-on exposure to Gardening, Herbalism, and Nutrition Classes to increase collaboration skills and decrease stress.   There is a level o...

Each morning, from 9 am-11 am, Bill Newman and Buz Eisenberg host Talk the Talk radio show on WHMP.  In this EXTRA episode of The Hustler Files, Creator/Host Lisa Reilly has the opportunity to share how The Hustler Files came to be and why it’s such a passion project.

The Franklin County, Massachusetts, Opioid Task Force has come a long way since its inception in 2011. Across a 30-town region in rural Western Mass, the Opioid Task Force is a 400-member entity working to address the impact of the Opioid epidemic.  While this Task Force is involved with social policy work around the Opioid crisis, it is their focus to support prevention, intervention, treatment,...