This season, the UnCuffed podcast is doing something new. Greg Eskridge, one of the program’s founding producers inside San Quentin prison, was released over the summer, after more than 30 years of incarceration. And now, he is our host. Over roughly ten episodes, he’ll be telling a deeply personal, riveting story about re-entering society after decades away. It’s a story that’s rarely if ever told about re-entry – the good, the bad, and everything in between: getting robbed at the mandatory transitional living center within weeks of his release, making amends with family members, revisiting the scene of his crime, and documenting, in real time, as he trains to join the leadership team of the Uncuffed program, which runs classes in three California prisons. [As Kelly put it to me, "he's going to be the boss!"]

This ambitious season of the podcast will continue to feature stories of incarcerated producers – including, for the first time ever, incarcerated women. And now, with Greg on the mic, the stories from the inside will connect with the stories from the outside, addressing themes of family, food, and friendship – and tackling newsy subjects like mass incarceration in the so-called model state of California at a time when voters have opted to get tougher on crime. 

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