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.
Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent listener-supported podcasts. Discover audio with vision at radiotopia.fm and learn more about Ear Hustle at earhustlesq.com.
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 39 minutes
- Episodes
- 164
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
Ear Hustle Live! 2023
At the end of 2023, Ear Hustle embarked on its first live tour — a celebration of our 100th episode. Nigel and Earlonne shared favorite moments from the show’s history, and a few of our talented frie…
01:12:22 |
Wed 03 Sep 2025
Revisiting “Future on Ice”
Revisiting our 2018 episode “Future on Ice,” about the lives of immigrants in San Quentin.
Being an immigrant in an American prison can pose unique challenges, like deciding which racial group you’l…
00:47:49 |
Thu 21 Aug 2025
San Quentin: The Magazine, Issue 3
The candy craze that’s sweeping the prison. What happens when your cellie dies? An update to our continuing coverage on jeans. And, why some people like sharing a cell. Four stories from our inside t…
00:42:26 |
Wed 30 Jul 2025
Revisiting “12 Hours on the Yard”
Cat Schuknecht, Ear Hustle’s Senior Producer at the California Institution for Women, listens back to our 2023 episode “12 Hours on the Yard.” Inspired by the classic This American Life episode “24 H…
01:15:31 |
Wed 09 Jul 2025
30 Days
Tam has been in prison for two decades, and is facing a third. But now, there’s a small chance a judge could send him home, time served. For one month, we follow Ear Hustle’s inside producer as he pr…
00:48:01 |
Wed 11 Jun 2025
I See the Castle
Recently, Earlonne was drafted for a mysterious task: to pose for a photo with Nigel — wearing Minnie Mouse ears — while waving a fake “churro” in the air. (Earlonne, always a good sport, didn’t ask …
01:02:56 |
Wed 28 May 2025
Revisiting "Cracked Windshield"
For the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, Rahsaan revisits “Cracked Windshield,” an episode we did for the first anniversary. The Ear Hustle team and friends talk about their first interact…
01:15:28 |
Fri 23 May 2025
No Other Word for It
Women serving serious time for having killed someone while driving drunk form a distinct culture in prison, and often struggle to fit in. We visit two California prisons to meet women who are still g…
00:34:42 |
Wed 14 May 2025
Bell Pepper
It’s our first-ever listener-inspired “mystery” episode! This time, Nigel's in the dark — and Earlonne has a new co-host. They hope you enjoy this cutting-edge, occasionally unruly Ear Hustle episode…
00:50:42 |
Wed 30 Apr 2025
Why Doesn't Ear Hustle Talk About People's Crimes?
Listeners had a lot to say about two recent episodes featuring residents of California’s death row, especially “Different Sides of the Earth,” which focused on condemned women. “It was hard to hear t…
00:48:01 |
Fri 25 Apr 2025
Different Sides of the Earth
Twenty women are currently serving a death sentence at the Central California Women’s Facility. Like the men we met at San Quentin in our previous episode, these women are now living with the mainlin…
00:53:01 |
Wed 16 Apr 2025
Slam That Door
San Quentin's death row has been cleared out; soon it'll be renovated into an honor dorm. We make one last visit with four men who, between them, spent over 130 years on the row. We see the solitary …
00:47:10 |
Wed 02 Apr 2025
Super Fun Birthday Story
For some, it’s a weeklong bonanza; others keep it on the down-low. Whether you’re in prison or not, how you celebrate your birthday says a lot about who you are.
The New Official Ear Hustle Birthday…
00:43:03 |
Wed 19 Mar 2025
Spark Plug
Spark Plug wanted a life straight out of a Hollywood movie: Live fast and die a legend. But that’s not quite how things worked out.
This episode was scored with music by David Jassy, Earlonne Woods,…
00:49:56 |
Wed 05 Mar 2025
New Episodes Start Next Week!
The Ear Hustle team has been hard at work on a whole batch of new stories from San Quentin, the California Institution for Women, the Central California Women’s Facility, and beyond. They’ll be in yo…
00:05:46 |
Wed 26 Feb 2025
Revisiting “Camp Grace”
Next up in our “sleeper hits” series, our editor Amy listens back to “Camp Grace,” a 2021 episode that she had started producing until she was sidelined by COVID. In it, we follow a group of kids to …
01:14:57 |
Wed 12 Feb 2025
From the Vault: Crew No. 7
California relies on incarcerated firefighters to fight fires like the ones that have engulfed Southern California this month. But once these men and women are released from prison, they can have a h…
00:44:48 |
Fri 17 Jan 2025
Revisiting “August 21, 1971”
In the next installment in our “sleeper hits” series, Earlonne listens back to the episode “August 21, 1971,” about George Jackson and one of the most significant days in San Quentin’s history. E tal…
01:20:22 |
Wed 08 Jan 2025
Last Memory: Linda
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 h…
00:38:23 |
Wed 11 Dec 2024
Last Memory: Leisha
Leisha didn't plan on getting pregnant. And she certainly didn't plan on giving birth in prison. But on the day those two red lines showed up, Leisha found kindness in an unexpected place.
Thanks to…
00:31:54 |
Wed 27 Nov 2024
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