Ear Hustle brings you the daily realities of life inside prison shared by those living it, and stories from the outside, post-incarceration.
Ear Hustle launched in 2017 as the first podcast created and produced in prison, featuring stories of the daily realities of life inside California’s San Quentin State Prison, shared by those living it. Co-founded by Bay Area artist Nigel Poor alongside Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams — who were incarcerated at the time — the podcast now tells stories from inside prison and from the outside, post-incarceration.
In 2020, Ear Hustle was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in audio reporting — the first time the category was recognized — for bringing audiences “a consistently surprising and beautifully crafted series on life behind bars.” In 2021, Ear Hustle received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for “shatter[ing] the myths about serving time and what happens afterwards.” Ear Hustle has also received honors from the Third Coast International Audio Festival, the Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, and is a two-time Peabody Award nominee.
Earlonne and Nigel have delivered commencement addresses for the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Bennington College, a keynote at Podcast Movement, and have discussed their work at the City Arts & Lectures and Commonwealth Club series in San Francisco, and at the Tribeca Festival in New York. In addition, Ear Hustle has also inspired multiple creative endeavors, including the Metropolitan Museum of Arts’ “Songs from the Spirit” dance performance featuring music from the podcast.
Earlonne and Nigel are also the authors of This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life, a book inspired by the podcast and published by Crown/Random House. The San Francisco Public Library selected the title for its One City One Book citywide community reading program in 2022.
Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary podcasts. Ear Hustle won Radiotopia’s first Podquest in 2016 — a search for new story-driven podcast ideas — beating out more than 1,500 international entries. Today, episodes have been downloaded more than 75 million times. The show is also broadcast to incarcerated communities, including in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institutions and in the U.K. in collaboration with the Prison Radio Association.
The Ear Hustle team works in San Quentin’s media lab and in the KQED office in San Francisco. You can also find the team on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Team
The hosts & Creators
Featured
The Crew
Amy Standen, Editor
Bruce Wallace, Executive Producer
Derrell Sadiq Davis, Assistant Producer and Music Contributor
Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, Producer
Rhashiyd Zinnamon, Music Contributor
Shabnam Sigman, Managing Producer
Tam Nguyen, Assistant Producer
Tony de Trinidad, Assistant Producer
Tony Tafoya, Inside Managing Producer
Special thanks to…
Antwan “Banks” Williams (Sound Designer emeritus), Julie Shapiro (Executive Producer emeritus), Curtis Fox (Story Editor emeritus), Pat Mesiti-Miller (Sound Designer emeritus), David Jassy (Music Contributor emeritus), John “Yahya” Johnson (Producer emeritus), Erin Wade (Digital Producer emeritus), and Lt. Sam Robinson (San Quentin Public Information Officer emeritus).
Big thanks to Acting Warden Andes and Lt. Berry at San Quentin State Prison, and Acting Warden Williams and Lt. Newborg at the California Institution for Women for their support of the show.
FAQ
Two weeks between episodes is an eternity! Why does it take so long?
. . .
We appreciate listeners wanting to hear more episodes more often, but please keep in mind that producing a podcast from inside a prison (without internet or phone access) takes much more time than producing one on the outside. This is a learning process for all involved, and while our systems are improving, it’s still a ton of work to get each episode publish-ready.
Is Ear Hustle censored by San Quentin State Prison (SQSP) authorities?
. . .
Every Ear Hustle episode is approved by prison administration as a matter of policy concerning outgoing media of any form from San Quentin. The administration has shown great support for Ear Hustle, and we see no indication that they will make it difficult for us to pursue the podcast we’ve outlined from the start, sharing stories about day-to-day life in prison. We are not concerned about this need for approval compromising the content or integrity of the show.
I heard that Earlonne was released from San Quentin a while back. Where can I find out more?
. . .
It's true! The day before Thanksgiving 2018, then-California Governor Jerry Brown commuted Earlonne's sentence, and Earlonne was released from San Quentin on Nov. 30, 2018. You can hear more about it in this bonus episode.
Earlonne is now employed by PRX as a full-time producer with Ear Hustle, and is busy reporting on re-entry stories and daily life for formerly incarcerated people, while also documenting his own experiences. He still co-hosts the show with Nigel.
How can I collaborate with Ear Hustle?
. . .
Thank you so much for the interest, but to be honest, most likely, you can’t. It’s not possible to bring collaborators into San Quentin State Prison regularly, nor to connect via internet or phone with the men inside. Besides the logistical challenges of collaborating, while there are many people on the outside pursuing excellent journalism and storytelling about prison culture and reform, with Ear Hustle we are committed to producing stories from and giving voice to the men on the inside. And while we have expanded to include stories of re-entry, we are not, at this time, taking pitches related to this subject.
In general, due to the unique nature of our production, we do not respond to outside requests or pitches for material.
Do you have transcripts of the episodes?
. . .
Yes! You can find transcripts of each episode on our transcripts page.
How can I support Ear Hustle?
. . .
Thanks for your interest in this! You can always donate to the show, to support what we’re doing, and help keep us Hustling into the future. If you’d like to send a physical check, please make it out to PRX, Inc., put “Ear Hustle” in the memo line and send it to:
PRX
P.O. Box 382234
Cambridge, MA 02238
Would you or your company like to sponsor Ear Hustle? Just contact Radiotopia and they will hook you up. Want to make a donation through a family foundation or donor-advised fund? Our Director of Development will help you out.
Can I get Ear Hustle merch?
. . .
Yes you can. We have T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, and more available. Order yours today!
Does purchasing merch support Ear Hustle directly?
. . .
We donate 25% of all proceeds from merch to San Quentin's Mount Tamalpais College (formerly Prison University Project), the program that Nigel first worked with when she began volunteering there in 2011. Any additional revenue from merch supports the production of the show.
How can I contact the people who tell their stories on Ear Hustle?
. . .
Prison rules prohibit us from passing on any letters, but you can find all the information you'll need yourself.
You can locate any incarcerated person's CDCR number here, and find instructions for how to contact them here.
And you'll find the names of many of the people featured in our stories on each episode page, in the show notes.
Can Ear Hustle pass along my message to one of the guys featured in an episode?
. . .
Sorry, but we’re not able to relay messages to or within the San Quentin facility.
How can I write a letter to an incarcerated person at another prison?
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It's great that you want to start writing letters to incarcerated people! Unfortunately, we can’t provide guidance on specific pen pal programs, because we simply don’t know enough about each individual one. We encourage you to do careful research and vet pen pal programs thoroughly before giving them your information.
I love the music featured on Ear Hustle. Is there any way to listen to it outside of the podcast episodes?
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Right now, music featured on Ear Hustle is not available for download outside of podcast episodes. But, you can stream some of the songs from our episodes on the music page of our website.
I live in the Bay Area and would like to volunteer at San Quentin. How can I get involved?
. . .
That's great! Here are a few programs you can look into at SQSP:
- Insight Prison Project
- Mount Tamalpais College (formerly Prison University Project)
- The San Quentin Trust
- California Reentry Program
- Insight Garden Program
I'm all caught up on Ear Hustle episodes. What should I listen to next?
. . .
We're so glad you've tuned in for all of our episodes! Have you tried any of the other podcasts on our network, Radiotopia? We recommend starting with the "Doing Time" series the shows produced to welcome us to the network back in 2017.
If you're looking for other shows about incarceration and life in prison, check out our "Summer Listening" bonus episode for some recommendations. And here's a handy list:
- The Secret Life of Prisons, from the Prison Radio Association in the UK
- Birds Eye View, made by women in the Darwin Correctional Centre in Australia
- Uncuffed, produced by men incarcerated at Solano and San Quentin state prisons in California for KALW
- Life on the Outside, produced by Lucy Copp
- Caught, stories about the juvenile justice system
- Decarceration Nation, about mass incarceration and the people impacted by it
- In The Dark Season 2, the investigative podcast looks at the case of a man tried six times for the same crime
- Pelican Bay UNLOCKED, produced by people incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison in California
- Prison Bag, a woman tells her story of having a husband in prison
- “Prison Diaries” from Radio Diaries, first-person stories about life in prison
- 70 Million, a podcast about criminal justice reform
- Supervision, a four-part series about life on parole, produced by NHPR
- Unprisoned, a podcast and radio show about the human impacts of incarceration
- With(in) Podcast, a collaboration between the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative and the Colorado Department of Corrections
- Mass Exoneration, about people convicted of crimes they didn’t commit, in collaboration with the New England Innocence Project
- Suave, a collaboration between Futuro Media and PRX that tells a story of juvenile incarceration, redemption, and the unusual relationship between a journalist and a source.
- Life Jolt, a CBC podcast that examines the lives of women navigating Canada's correctional system.
I have a question not answered here. How can I get in touch?
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You can email us or send us a postcard — and keep your ears peeled for “Catch a Kite” episodes featuring questions sent in from listeners via postcard.
Press
LISTENER SUPPORT
Making a podcast is hard work for anyone. It's even harder for us. If you like what you hear, please consider making a donation to Ear Hustle to support our production and distribution.