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Taking a Plea Deal When You're Innocent!
Nearly 90 to 97 percent of criminal cases in the United States end in plea bargains. Most people never get a trial.
In this episode of On The Recyard Women’s Prison Podcast, Marci Marie Simmons and Jennifer Toon break down how plea deals really work, why prosecutors rely on them, and how the “trial penalty” pressures people into pleading guilty.
We talk about:
• Why going to trial can mean risking decades more time
• How mandatory minimums create leverage
• The role of overworked public defenders
• Why the system could not function if everyone demanded a trial
• How innocent people end up taking plea deals
From lived experience inside women’s prisons to policy realities, this episode exposes how plea bargaining drives mass incarceration and raises serious questions about coercion, fairness, and justice.
If you have ever wondered why someone “just took a deal,” this episode explains what headlines leave out.
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms
🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations about incarceration, criminal justice reform, and current events through the lens of lived experience
About the hosts:
Marci Marie is a formerly incarcerated storyteller, organizer, and media creator with a decade of lived experience inside Texas women’s prisons. She serves as Director of Communications at Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, and as the Social & Digital Media Coordinator with FICPFM, where she leads narrative strategy rooted in lived experience. Marci brings sharp analysis, personal truth, and a women centered lens to conversations about incarceration, mental health, policy, and current events.
Jennifer “Toonche” Toon is a formerly incarcerated advocate and the Executive Director and co founder of Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance. Her involvement with the criminal legal system began at age 15 under Texas determinate sentencing laws, resulting in 27 years of system involvement. Toonche brings deep policy insight, lived experience, and narrative power shaped by her work in advocacy, media, and justice reform.
Follow Marci Marie: www.marcimarie.com
Follow Toonche: Facebook
Keywords: women’s prison podcast, formerly incarcerated women, Texas prisons, incarceration and current events, lived experience commentary, prison policy, mental health and incarceration, narrative change, women impacted by incarceration
View all episodes
By Jennifer Toon & Marci MarieNearly 90 to 97 percent of criminal cases in the United States end in plea bargains. Most people never get a trial.
In this episode of On The Recyard Women’s Prison Podcast, Marci Marie Simmons and Jennifer Toon break down how plea deals really work, why prosecutors rely on them, and how the “trial penalty” pressures people into pleading guilty.
We talk about:
• Why going to trial can mean risking decades more time
• How mandatory minimums create leverage
• The role of overworked public defenders
• Why the system could not function if everyone demanded a trial
• How innocent people end up taking plea deals
From lived experience inside women’s prisons to policy realities, this episode exposes how plea bargaining drives mass incarceration and raises serious questions about coercion, fairness, and justice.
If you have ever wondered why someone “just took a deal,” this episode explains what headlines leave out.
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms
🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations about incarceration, criminal justice reform, and current events through the lens of lived experience
About the hosts:
Marci Marie is a formerly incarcerated storyteller, organizer, and media creator with a decade of lived experience inside Texas women’s prisons. She serves as Director of Communications at Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, and as the Social & Digital Media Coordinator with FICPFM, where she leads narrative strategy rooted in lived experience. Marci brings sharp analysis, personal truth, and a women centered lens to conversations about incarceration, mental health, policy, and current events.
Jennifer “Toonche” Toon is a formerly incarcerated advocate and the Executive Director and co founder of Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance. Her involvement with the criminal legal system began at age 15 under Texas determinate sentencing laws, resulting in 27 years of system involvement. Toonche brings deep policy insight, lived experience, and narrative power shaped by her work in advocacy, media, and justice reform.
Follow Marci Marie: www.marcimarie.com
Follow Toonche: Facebook
Keywords: women’s prison podcast, formerly incarcerated women, Texas prisons, incarceration and current events, lived experience commentary, prison policy, mental health and incarceration, narrative change, women impacted by incarceration