Penned

Christina speaks with Shane again, an inmate currently serving a life sentence at Sing Sing Prison. As Christina tries to understand the idea of inmates being cancelled out from society, Shane goes into detail about what daily life is like for him on the inside. From pursuing higher education classes, to learning a foreign language and giving a TedX Talk, he is determined to push himself despite his environment.



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To hear the music from Carnegie Hall's Musical Connections Program at Sing Sing:
https://www.carnegiehall.org/Education/Social-Impact/Musical-Connections

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Written and produced by Christina Hansen

Additional production and sound editing by Jason Sissoyev

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If you or someone you know has a story to share or you just want to drop me a little note, send an email to: [email protected]

Quarantine Edition. Christina speaks with Shane, an inmate currently serving a life sentence in New York State's Sing Sing Prison. He gives a firsthand account of the events developing in the prison during the COVID-19 outbreak and how it's impacting inmate life there. Sing Sing was one of the first US prisons to report positive tests for the COVID-19 virus.


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Article referenced:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/it-spreads-like-wildfire-covid-19-comes-to-new-yorks-prisons


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Written and produced by Christina Hansen

Additional production and sound editing by: Jason Sissoyev

In the second part of Vanessa's interview, she speaks with Christina about the details surrounding Tyler's crime for which he received a sentence of life without parole.

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Show warning: the topics discussed in this episode contain graphic descriptions of violence. Please listen at your own discretion.

Christina speaks with Vanessa, a woman who consistently corresponds with inmates serving life without parole sentences. In the first of a two part episode Vanessa shares details of a relationship that has impacted her life in a way she couldn't have imagined

Christina speaks with Kathie Klarreich, Executive Director of Exchange For Change, a nonprofit organization that teaches writing in prisons and runs letter exchanges between incarcerated students and writers studying on the outside. This episode also features a reading by Prison Poet Laureate, Eduardo 'Echo' Martinez' of his poem Provocation.

You can learn more about Exchange For Change, you can visit their website: exchange-for-change.org

Order and read Don't Shake The Spoon

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Christina shares more letters from the pen pals who wrote to her brother during his 5 year prison sentence. 

Christina speaks with Jessica, a married mother of two young children who has developed a relationship with an inmate serving a 20 year sentence.

Christina speaks with Samantha, a woman who has developed a close friendship with an inmate serving 50 years in prison.