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Ear Hustle

Ear Hustle

Written by: Ear Hustle & Radiotopia
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About this listen

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.

Social Sciences
Episodes
  • The Loop Ep. 6: Make Your Partner Look Good
    Dec 17 2025

    For the final episode of our all-NYC series, we take the train uptown to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, where a group of incarcerated dads from Rikers Island are playing games, eating lunch, and doing arts and crafts with their kids.

    This is the sixth episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-part series about kids in New York City who are caught up, one way or another, in the criminal justice system.

    Ear Hustle would like to thank Leslie Bushara, Chief Program Officer; and Dava Schub, Chief Executive Officer and Museum Director at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan; as well as the following people at New York City Department of Correction: Patrick Gallahue, Deputy Commissioner of Public Information; Annais Morales, Press Secretary; Latima Johnson, Press Officer; Anne Penson, Executive Director of Reintegration Services; Douglas Shore, Director of Reintegration Services; Jessica Medard, Executive Director of Facility Programs (RNDC); and Betty Melecio, Executive Director of Facility Programs (OBCC).

    As always, thanks to Warden Andes and Lt. Berry at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Parker, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Newborg at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Williams at the Central California Women’s Facility for their support of our work.

    Tickets are now on sale for our upcoming live shows in San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles! Get them before they're gone, at earhustlesq.com/tour.

    Support our team and get even more Ear Hustle by subscribing to Ear Hustle Plus today. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts.

    Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX.

    Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
  • The Loop Ep. 5: Yes, And ...
    Dec 3 2025

    Kaysha is in her early 20s: low on resources, but big on dreams. Sometimes, those dreams feel tantalizingly close to reality; other times, she's pulled back into a life she badly wants to leave behind. We follow Kaysha for a year and a half as she tries to break out of the loop.

    This is the fifth episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-part series about kids in New York City who are caught up, one way or another, in the criminal justice system.

    Ear Hustle would like to thank: Joanne Smith-Darden, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Ruth T. Koehler Endowed Professor in Children's Services, Michigan State University and Co-Director, SPARK Lab; Heather McCauley, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Michigan State University and Co-Director, SPARK Lab; and Adam Brown, Associate Professor, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, City University of New York, for their tremendous support of this project.

    Big thanks, too, to the Drama Club team — including Josie Whittlesey, Cesar Rosado, Tiffany “Tiny” Cruz, Abby Pierce, Sophie Jones, and Ashley Adams. You can find out more about their work here.

    And thanks to Nancy Ginsberg, Aylese Kanze, and Commissioner Danhauser at New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services for saying “yes” to this project.

    As always, thanks to Warden Andes and Lt. Berry at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Parker, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Newborg at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Williams at the Central California Women’s Facility for their support of our work.

    Support our team and get even more Ear Hustle by subscribing to Ear Hustle Plus today. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts.

    Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX.

    Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
  • The Loop Ep. 4: Where’s the Conflict?
    Nov 19 2025

    Boys at Crossroads outnumber girls 10 to one, but if you ask staff about who’s harder to work with, it’s the girls, hands down. To find out for ourselves and learn more about life on the girls’ hall, we follow two sisters who have cycled in and out of New York’s juvenile justice system.

    This is the fourth episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-part series about kids in New York City who are caught up, one way or another, in the criminal justice system.

    Ear Hustle would like to thank: Joanne Smith-Darden, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Ruth T. Koehler Endowed Professor in Children's Services, Michigan State University and Co-Director, SPARK Lab; Heather McCauley, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, Michigan State University and Co-Director, SPARK Lab; and Adam Brown, Associate Professor, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, City University of New York, for their tremendous support of this project.

    Big thanks, too, to the Drama Club team — including Josie Whittlesey, Cesar Rosado, Tiffany “Tiny” Cruz, Abby Pierce, Sophie Jones, and Ashley Adams. You can find out more about their work here.

    And thanks to Nancy Ginsberg, Aylese Kanze, and Commissioner Danhauser at New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services for saying “yes” to this project.

    As always, thanks to Warden Andes and Lt. Berry at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Parker, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Newborg at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Williams at the Central California Women’s Facility for their support of our work.

    Support our team and get even more Ear Hustle by subscribing to Ear Hustle Plus today. Sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts.

    Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX.

    Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
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