The Hustler Files with Lisa Reilly - Stories That Challenge What You Thought You Knew
One in three Americans is justice-impacted, and at The Hustler Files, we’re here to change the conversation. This isn’t just a podcast, it’s storytelling with grit, hope, and purpose. Each episode amplifies voices closest to the system: justice-impacted individuals, reformers, changemakers, and the guardians behind the wall who offer healing and opportunity. These are stories of truth, perspective, and possibility. Some involve real crime and real consequences, but we tell them with care, intention, and respect. Because there’s always a voice that can challenge what you thought you knew.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 27 minutes
- Episodes
- 126
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
WHEN YOUR MAIN PRODUCTION IN LIFE BECOMES CHANGING PEOPLE’S LIVES
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 …
FROM PRISON BARS TO REBAR & MORE
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 sha…
DEFYING THE ODDS, ONE STATE & ONE JUSTICE IMPACTED PERSON AT A TIME
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…
TO NORMALIZE OPPORTUNITY, WE MUST FIX THE TALENT PIPELINE PROBLEM
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…
COMPASSION IS THE #1 INGREDIENT FOR A 2ND CHANCE
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 abou…
FROM DECARCERATION TO KIDS WITH FLOPPY EARS
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 …
HUMAN TRAFFICKING IS A WORLD-WIDE EPIDEMIC, AND THERE’S NO CURE IN SIGHT
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 i…
IT ONLY TAKES ONE VOICE TO BE THE CHANGE
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 innova…
INNOCENT OR GUILTY, THERE’S NOTHING IN BETWEEN
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 …
THE PEN IS TRULY MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD
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 liv…
WHEN YOUR VOICE BECOMES AN ECHO THAT CHANGES LIVES
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…
THE NURTURING FATHERS PROGRAM
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 sa…
CHANGING CULTURE IS YOUR MISSION, WHEN STORYTELLING IS YOUR POWER
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 indust…
THE HUMAN IMPACT FROM A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE X 5
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, interr…
THE COURAGE TO BREAK THROUGH THE SOUNDS OF PRISON SILENCE
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 inc…
EVEN BEHIND THE WALL, EDUCATION WITH AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET
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, Ve…
PAROLE, FACT VS. FICTION
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 t…
IN JANUARY 2024 PRISON REFORM TAKES ONE STEP FORWARD AND ONE STEP BACK
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 landmar…
EMPLOYERS ARE RE-SHAPING BOTH HOW THEY HIRE & HOW THEY MANAGE, FOR AN A-HA MOMENT
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 …
NEARLY 1 IN 3 U.S. ADULTS IS CUT OUT OF THE LABOR MARKET, BUT HELP IS COMING
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 econo…