Ear Hustle

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 incarcerated people lay dead. Fifty years later, the events of that day remain intensely contested, and emotions raw. We break down what happened, and why it still matters today.

As always, big thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

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

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 Times,” incarcerated women look back on the uncertainty and dread they experienced in those early days while they waited to receive their sentences.

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 release. Each time, California’s governor denied it. What does it mean to live a meaningful life when nearly all of it is spent behind bars?

As always, big thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show. 

You can find out more about Nigel and Earlonne’s forthcoming book, This Is Ear Hustle, at thisisearhustlebook.com. 

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits, sign up for our newsletter, and shop for merch at earhustlesq.com.

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. 

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 can ever change.

As always, big thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show. 

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits, sign up for our newsletter, and shop for merch at earhustlesq.com.

Find out how Talib has been doing since this episode originally aired, in the Ear Hustle Plus episode “Where’s Talib Now?” To listen to all EH+ bonus content, sign up at earhustlesq.com/plus or directly in Apple Podcasts. 

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 world, but sometimes they make the distance seem even greater.

As always, big thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits, sign up for our newsletter, and shop for merch at earhustlesq.com.

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 find answers. Catch a Kite is back!

You can find more information about Nigel’s forthcoming book, “The San Quentin Project,” here.

As always, big thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits at earhustlesq.com.

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 Frena Bakery.

As always, thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits at earhustlesq.com.

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 to personal safety — and a whole lot of prison politics.

As always, big thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits at earhustlesq.com.

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 prison authorities suspended in-person visits due to COVID-19, we bring you stories from and about visiting rooms, and hear how families are adjusting to video “visits.”

As always, thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits at earhustlesq.com.

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 hear about the twists and turns their lives have taken since.

Rauch first appeared in the episode Looking Out.

Ronnie first appeared in the episode Kissing the Concrete.

Curtis first appeared in the episode Left Behind, and later in the episode I Want the Fairy Tale.

As always, thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX. Find a full list of episode credits at earhustlesq.com.