Ear Hustle

Do You Know Who I Am?

For years, we’ve asked incarcerated people to speculate on the difference between life inside a men’s prison and inside a women’s. Now we’re finally getting answers, thanks to a 2021 law allowing transgender, intersex, and non-binary people to transfer to prisons that match their gender identity. For some, the law has been life-changing; for others… not so much.
Big thanks to Guim'Mara Berry and Acting Warden Oak Smith for their support of the show, and to Lt. William Newborg and everyone else at the California Institution for Women for welcoming our team.
Ear Hustle is a proud member of <a href="https://www.radiotopia.fm/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Radiotopia">Radiotopia</a>, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits at <a href="https://www.earhustlesq.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">earhustlesq.com</a>.

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.