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 Extra: A Call from Sacramento
We’re between seasons but have an exciting update to share with listeners: Our friend and colleague Rahsaan “New York” Thomas’ prison sentence has been commuted by California Governor Gavin Newsom. W…
00:04:46 |
Wed 26 Jan 2022
Ear Hustle Presents: Written Off
While Ear Hustle works on its next season, which starts March 2, we wanted to introduce you to the podcast Written Off. It features formerly incarcerated young writers talking about their journeys an…
00:33:45 |
Wed 29 Dec 2021
Camp Grace
This past fall, we followed a group of kids into Salinas Valley State Prison to spend two days with their dads, whom they hadn’t seen in years. Through music, crafts, and games, the idea behind Camp …
00:39:59 |
Wed 22 Dec 2021
Tray, Tumbler, Spork
Earlier this year, some of the Ear Hustle team spent a month living under a specific set of constraints informed by the daily routines of our inside colleagues, changing the way we ate, got dressed, …
00:54:48 |
Wed 08 Dec 2021
Yard of Dreams
Sports in prison are more than just games. They can be an outlet for stress, the realization of dreams deferred, or a positive way to prove oneself to peers and family. In this episode, one player ba…
00:53:34 |
Wed 17 Nov 2021
Counting Lines
Going to prison in your home country can be disorienting enough. What about when you’re new to the culture, don’t speak the language, and are thousands of miles from family and friends? Three America…
00:54:04 |
Wed 03 Nov 2021
Taxx Is Tripping
What does it take to be bonnaroo in prison? We explore the creative ways people inside transform and beautify their physical selves and their living environment, using whatever they can find within p…
00:55:06 |
Wed 20 Oct 2021
Stormy Monday
At Ear Hustle, we hear more from listeners about music than almost any other topic. In response, we bring you the Ear Hustle Mixtape, including stories about an unlikely instrument that’s been showin…
00:56:32 |
Wed 06 Oct 2021
Do It Movin’
We bring you stories about the ups and downs of making bail and the bittersweet taste of freedom when you know you’re about to lose it. Plus: Nigel confronts a man with no regrets, and Ear Hustle say…
00:49:37 |
Wed 22 Sep 2021
August 21, 1971
August 21, 1971 was the deadliest day in San Quentin history, and it’s still a painful topic, both inside the prison and out. At the center of the story was a Black revolutionary named George Jackson…
00:55:20 |
Wed 08 Sep 2021
Coming Soon: 50 Years After George Jackson
Ear Hustle’s eighth season launches on September 8th with a dramatic account of one of the most notorious days in San Quentin’s history: August 21st, 1971. By sundown, three guards and three incarcer…
00:02:11 |
Wed 25 Aug 2021
Ear Hustle Presents: Life Jolt
With just a few weeks to go before Ear Hustle returns with Season 8, we wanted to introduce listeners to a new show that’s been in all of our headphones: Life Jolt. In this first episode, “The Before…
00:37:52 |
Wed 11 Aug 2021
Home for Me Is Really a Memory
Leslie has served more time in prison than anyone we’ve ever interviewed on the show: over half a century, for a crime committed when she was 19. Four times, the parole board has deemed her fit for r…
01:06:43 |
Wed 09 Jun 2021
Cracked Windshield
A year after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer, the Ear Hustle team and friends talk about their first interactions with cops, the role of empathy, and whether those relationships…
00:41:44 |
Wed 26 May 2021
The Whole Shabang
Toothpaste, ramen noodles, sneakers, coffee creamer. If you want to shop from prison, it’s either the commissary or a prison-approved package catalog. These packages offer a connection to the outside…
00:44:11 |
Wed 12 May 2021
Catch a Kite 6
Can you have an Xbox in your prison cell? Is it OK to say “inmate”? How have stimulus checks affected the prison economy? Ear Hustle listeners have questions about life behind bars. Our team went to …
00:45:31 |
Wed 28 Apr 2021
Lifer Bakery
A small Israeli bakery in downtown San Francisco has offered first jobs to dozens of lifers just out of prison. Four employees share their stories of adjusting to life on the outside while working at…
00:41:38 |
Wed 14 Apr 2021
Marcel and Angie
Marcel and Angie each spent years in prisons determined by the gender on their birth certificate, not the one they identify with. Being trans in prison comes with complications — from where you live …
00:30:01 |
Wed 31 Mar 2021
Hot Trash
Visiting a loved one in prison is both emotionally intense and constrained by countless rules – from how much PDA is too much PDA, to what kind of candy you can eat inside. One year after California …
00:48:50 |
Wed 17 Mar 2021
Sugarbutt's a Snail
A lot has happened since we got behind the mics to record Ear Hustle’s first season. As we begin our seventh, we catch up with three people whom listeners first heard from inside San Quentin, and hea…
00:46:54 |
Wed 03 Mar 2021
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