About
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.
Creator
Ear Hustle & Radiotopia
host
Reviews
Episodes(3)
Revisiting “Gold Coats and OGs”
Earlonne brings his second selection from the archives: an episode from Ear Hustle’s first season about how people care for each other in a harsh place. Dealing with aging and death is never easy. But in prison, these issues are fraught with extra challenges, both emotional and physical. Meet two in
Revisiting “Saber-Toothed Cat”
At the start of a new year, Nigel revisits an episode about time passing and one man’s experience of four decades behind bars: our 2023 episode “Saber-Toothed Cat.” What’s the difference between an over-under and a lower-lower? How many pairs of underwear do you get in prison? And how long does a ba
The Loop Ep. 6: Make Your Partner Look Good
For the final episode of our all-NYC series, we take the train uptown to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, where a group of incarcerated dads from Rikers Island are playing games, eating lunch, and doing arts and crafts with their kids. This is the sixth episode of “The Loop,” Ear Hustle’s six-par