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This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life
A "profound, sometimes hilarious, often heartbreaking" (The New York Times) view of prison life, as told by currently and formerly incarcerated people, from the co-creators and co-hosts of the Peabody- and Pulitzer-nominated podcast Ear Hustle
"A must-read for fans of the legendary podcast and all those who seek to understand crime, punishment, and mass incarceration in America."--Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black
When Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods met, Nigel was a photography professor volunteering with the Prison University Project and Earlonne was serving thirty-one years to life at California's San Quentin State Prison. Initially drawn to each other by their shared interest in storytelling, neither had podcast production experience when they decided to enter Radiotopia's contest for new shows . . . and won. Using the prize for seed money, Nigel and Earlonne launched Ear Hustle, named after the prison term for "eavesdropping." It was the first podcast created and produced entirely within prison and would go on to be heard millions of times worldwide, garner Peabody and Pulitzer award nominations, and help earn Earlonne his freedom when his sentence was commuted in 2018.
In This Is Ear Hustle, Nigel and Earlonne share their own stories of how they came to San Quentin, how they created their phenomenally popular podcast amid extreme limitations, and what has kept them collaborating season after season. They present new stories, all with the same insight, balance, and rapport that distinguish the podcast. In an era when more than two million people are incarcerated across the United States--a number that grows by 600,000 annually--Nigel and Earlonne explore the full and often surprising realities of prison life. With characteristic candor and humor, their moving portrayals include unexpected moments of self-discovery, unlikely alliances, inspirational resilience, and ingenious work-arounds.
One personal narrative at a time, framed by Nigel's and Earlonne's distinct perspectives, This Is Ear Hustle reveals the complexity of life for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people while illuminating the shared experiences of humanity that unite us all.
"A must-read for fans of the legendary podcast and all those who seek to understand crime, punishment, and mass incarceration in America."--Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black
When Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods met, Nigel was a photography professor volunteering with the Prison University Project and Earlonne was serving thirty-one years to life at California's San Quentin State Prison. Initially drawn to each other by their shared interest in storytelling, neither had podcast production experience when they decided to enter Radiotopia's contest for new shows . . . and won. Using the prize for seed money, Nigel and Earlonne launched Ear Hustle, named after the prison term for "eavesdropping." It was the first podcast created and produced entirely within prison and would go on to be heard millions of times worldwide, garner Peabody and Pulitzer award nominations, and help earn Earlonne his freedom when his sentence was commuted in 2018.
In This Is Ear Hustle, Nigel and Earlonne share their own stories of how they came to San Quentin, how they created their phenomenally popular podcast amid extreme limitations, and what has kept them collaborating season after season. They present new stories, all with the same insight, balance, and rapport that distinguish the podcast. In an era when more than two million people are incarcerated across the United States--a number that grows by 600,000 annually--Nigel and Earlonne explore the full and often surprising realities of prison life. With characteristic candor and humor, their moving portrayals include unexpected moments of self-discovery, unlikely alliances, inspirational resilience, and ingenious work-arounds.
One personal narrative at a time, framed by Nigel's and Earlonne's distinct perspectives, This Is Ear Hustle reveals the complexity of life for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people while illuminating the shared experiences of humanity that unite us all.
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 19, 2021
201 people are currently reading
9776 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Poor
2 books67 followersNigel Poor is the co-creator, co-host, and co-producer of Ear Hustle (PRX & Radiotopia). A visual artist and photography professor at California State University, Sacramento, Nigel's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the SFMOMA and de Young Museum in San Francisco and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In 2011, Nigel got involved with San Quentin State Prison as a volunteer teacher for the Prison University Project. Nigel lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 314 reviews
May 18, 2021
I never write reviews for books because who am I to judge. But I had to make an exception here! I've been listening to Earhustle for years and love that this book gives listeners a glimpse into Earlonne and Nigel's stories, as well as the creation and development of the podcast, all while also reminding us why we love Earhustle in the first place: the men of San Quentin and their stories. Read this book, listen to the podcast, and let the (in) humanity and the struggle lead you to support much needed reform.
June 21, 2021
After five years of Ear Hustle, I feel like Nigel and Earlonne and the gang are like friends. Getting this deep dive into the show, the prisoners, their own relationship, and hearing more info on certain stories, I feel like I know them even better.
I work for a nonprofit that seeks to end juvenile incarceration in all its forms. This podcast and this book have been so eye opening into why I do what I do. It humanizes the prisoners of San Quentin and makes you realize how much we ,in fact, dehumanize prisoners. It also helps to introduce concepts of restorative and transformative justice that are a much better option than incarceration could ever be. The psychological damage of imprisonment, esp solitary confinement, is insurmountable for many and can be permanent. Fortunately, Nigel and Earlonne give a voice to these issues and hopefully make more people realize that prisons are obsolete.
I work for a nonprofit that seeks to end juvenile incarceration in all its forms. This podcast and this book have been so eye opening into why I do what I do. It humanizes the prisoners of San Quentin and makes you realize how much we ,in fact, dehumanize prisoners. It also helps to introduce concepts of restorative and transformative justice that are a much better option than incarceration could ever be. The psychological damage of imprisonment, esp solitary confinement, is insurmountable for many and can be permanent. Fortunately, Nigel and Earlonne give a voice to these issues and hopefully make more people realize that prisons are obsolete.
November 10, 2021
Es stehen ganz andere Dinge drin, als ich erwartet habe, und sie sind alle interessant. Das Beste daran: Ich musste keinen Podcast hören!
November 8, 2021
I love the Ear Hustle podcast and was interested in some of the behind the scenes stories promised in the book, but the format didn’t work for me and much of what was in the book I felt like I already knew.
April 5, 2023
I remember when Ear Hustle won the Radiotopia podcast contest! Thanks to B and H (who both read this for the 2022 San Francisco Public Library One City One Book project) for recommending this book.
Earlonne and Nigel are both incredibly likable and their chemistry and conversational style is eminently listenable. The details about showering, which food is your property, lock downs, and more, are eye-opening. It seems like California should reform the three strikes law!
I listened to the audiobook so I didn’t get to see the pictures.
Earlonne and Nigel are both incredibly likable and their chemistry and conversational style is eminently listenable. The details about showering, which food is your property, lock downs, and more, are eye-opening. It seems like California should reform the three strikes law!
I listened to the audiobook so I didn’t get to see the pictures.
June 15, 2022
strong narrative, it’s incredibly well-crafted and meticulously all pieced together. the only reason i’m not giving it five stars is i do think it’d be significantly better with more of an abolitionist bend. that said, the moderate/neolib politics it mostly alludes to are more accessible to the general public and i could see ear hustle making centrists/liberals feel more compassion towards incarcerated people. one person interviewed seems dedicated to abolition, but he’s only in a small section of the book.
i also am a little disappointed with the general lack of intersectionality? they talk about race and class and some about gender. i haven’t listened to the podcast bc i’m not a big podcast person, but i would hope it’s a bit more diverse in that regard? gender and queerness and disability are all such big parts of abolition, so maybe i have high expectations, i just believe all those things are necessary to consider regarding incarceration.
i also am a little disappointed with the general lack of intersectionality? they talk about race and class and some about gender. i haven’t listened to the podcast bc i’m not a big podcast person, but i would hope it’s a bit more diverse in that regard? gender and queerness and disability are all such big parts of abolition, so maybe i have high expectations, i just believe all those things are necessary to consider regarding incarceration.
September 16, 2021
Admittedly I don’t listen to this podcast. I found the book inconsistent. Some sections (mostly the interviews) were compelling but the banter between hosts was repetitive and boring. I’m curious about the show but mostly thought the book was fine.
November 21, 2021
I've been a fan of this podcast (on daily life in prisons and jails) since it started, and I'm a regular (tiny) donor to its ongoing work. So of course I wondered what the book could have that the podcast doesn't. Answer: a lot.
For one thing, it gives a much clearer view into the relationship between Earlonne Woods (a Black man who started co-hosting when he had effectively a life sentence at San Quentin) and Nigel Poor (who was a White volunteer at the prison, specializing in visual art). The two of them have come to truly love each other (as Nigel says at the end, "not overfamiliarly," and that shines through the pages.
Also, we get a detailed look into their early lives: both are interesting, but Earlonne's is less familiar to me, so I found it more compelling. We get some interviews that are more explicitly sexual than I think they would be likely to do on the show. We get a feeling for how the first year of the pandemic affected them. We get a detailed account of the stages of Earlonne's sentence commutation (which California Governor Jerry Brown signed in 2018) and what that meant to both authors.
If you're not a podcast person, the book will give you a really good sense of what they do. If you are a podcast person, listen to the podcast (or some of it) first. And if you're an Ear Hustle devotee, don't believe anyone who tells you the book has nothing new to offer you.
For one thing, it gives a much clearer view into the relationship between Earlonne Woods (a Black man who started co-hosting when he had effectively a life sentence at San Quentin) and Nigel Poor (who was a White volunteer at the prison, specializing in visual art). The two of them have come to truly love each other (as Nigel says at the end, "not overfamiliarly," and that shines through the pages.
Also, we get a detailed look into their early lives: both are interesting, but Earlonne's is less familiar to me, so I found it more compelling. We get some interviews that are more explicitly sexual than I think they would be likely to do on the show. We get a feeling for how the first year of the pandemic affected them. We get a detailed account of the stages of Earlonne's sentence commutation (which California Governor Jerry Brown signed in 2018) and what that meant to both authors.
If you're not a podcast person, the book will give you a really good sense of what they do. If you are a podcast person, listen to the podcast (or some of it) first. And if you're an Ear Hustle devotee, don't believe anyone who tells you the book has nothing new to offer you.
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January 10, 2022I am a long-time listener of the Ear Hustle podcast, which certainly influenced my experience with this book. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the audiobook as much as the podcast. Although the narration wasn't bad, the audiobook didn't capture the same life and emotion that comes across in the real-time interviews in the podcast. That being said, I did appreciate how the authors/hosts addressed some things I had always wondered about the podcast. Namely, I like the "slice-of-life" approach of the podcast, but I was often critical of how little they addressed systematic problems with mass incarceration. The audiobook does address how they decided to frame their podcast and why, which I appreciated. After writing this review, I can't tell if podcast listeners will enjoy this book more or less than non-listeners, but I recommend the podcast nonetheless.
September 29, 2022
wow i’m so happy i read this after putting it off - 100% recommend
January 22, 2023
Read this because it was SF Public Library’s “One City, One Book” choice…
Incredible book! Covers the founding of the award-winning podcast “Ear Hustle”, many individual stories of life in prison, and the personal story of co-host Earlonne Woods, who was incarcerated under the three-strikes law. This isn’t a book that pushes an absolutist agenda, but instead focuses on humanizing individual people on the “inside” and shining a light on all the messiness of the system. This means some chapters wander a bit, but in whole all the little details and stories about the family visitation process, how to keep food in your cell, significance of tattoos, etc. are what humanize. Lastly, Earlonne is largely what makes this book great (and I’m guessing the podcast too though haven’t listened yet).
Incredible book! Covers the founding of the award-winning podcast “Ear Hustle”, many individual stories of life in prison, and the personal story of co-host Earlonne Woods, who was incarcerated under the three-strikes law. This isn’t a book that pushes an absolutist agenda, but instead focuses on humanizing individual people on the “inside” and shining a light on all the messiness of the system. This means some chapters wander a bit, but in whole all the little details and stories about the family visitation process, how to keep food in your cell, significance of tattoos, etc. are what humanize. Lastly, Earlonne is largely what makes this book great (and I’m guessing the podcast too though haven’t listened yet).
March 14, 2023
Eye-opening look into daily life in prison and everything that comes with it. Covers a lot of angles including social dynamics, food, hygiene, visits, lockdowns, impact on families, etc. Makes a strong case for further reforms to California’s three strikes law which can send young people to prison for decades to life for relatively minor crimes.
The content here was five stars. I knocked off one star for the adapted-from-podcast dialogue format that I didn’t like as much as a normal book.
I read this because it was San Francisco’s 2022 One City One Book (though I was a little late). I have not listened to the pod yet but I will check it out. I would recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the topic
The content here was five stars. I knocked off one star for the adapted-from-podcast dialogue format that I didn’t like as much as a normal book.
I read this because it was San Francisco’s 2022 One City One Book (though I was a little late). I have not listened to the pod yet but I will check it out. I would recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the topic
May 31, 2023
I enjoyed This Is Ear Hustle. I wasn't sure what to expect from the book going in, as I had not heard of Ear Hustle prior to this. Fortunately, I really liked how this one was put together.
I was looking for something a bit different from the usual books I read, so I decided to give this one a go. I'm happy I did.
The book is based on a San Quentin Prison podcast. Ear Hustle launched in 2017 as the first podcast created and produced in prison, featuring stories of the daily realities of life inside California’s San Quentin State Prison, shared by those living it. Co-founded by Bay Area artist Nigel Poor alongside Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams — who were incarcerated at the time — the podcast now tells stories from inside prison and from the outside, post-incarceration. In 2019, Rahsaan “New York” Thomas joined Ear Hustle as a co-host inside San Quentin.
Nigel Poor with Earlonne Woods:
"Ear hustle" is an idiom that means: "to listen in on a conversation that one is not a participant in; to eavesdrop."
An ear hustler is "slang for a “gossiper” or “eavesdropper,” especially those seeking to leverage whatever information they overhear to their advantage."
The meat and potatoes of the book proper is a mix between the two co-hosts talking, and interviewing other inmates. The formatting of this book was a bit unorthodox, but I felt that the final presentation really worked here. The book covers many different incarcerated people's stories; mainly from San Quentin. The audiobook version I have was mostly read by the people talked about, which was a nice touch. Some other voice actors were brought in, and this worked, too.
Some of the stories recounted here are pretty hardcore - but what else would you expect from a book about San Quentin Prison?? There's a lot of real-life gritty and nasty stuff covered here, including a few pretty graphic stories of brutal prison violence. It's raw and real. It's not all doom and gloom, tho, and the nuances of the different stories are covered in a balanced manner by the authors here.
Nigel Poor gives the reader a bit of her backstory:
And describes some of her first encounters with prison and the inmates here:
During the latter part of the book, co-author Earlonne Woods talks about how he feels California's famous 3-strikes law is unjust. He mentions how many thousands of people are doing life with no parole for relatively minor crimes, and are ultimately punished less than many murderers and violent rapists. He makes a good case here, and I think that there should be room for a more nuanced examination of things on a case-by-case basis.
This is surely a polarizing debate, and I'll leave my own personal opinion out of this review, aside from what I just wrote above.
***********************
I would recommend This Is Ear Hustle to anyone interested.
4.5 stars.
I was looking for something a bit different from the usual books I read, so I decided to give this one a go. I'm happy I did.
The book is based on a San Quentin Prison podcast. Ear Hustle launched in 2017 as the first podcast created and produced in prison, featuring stories of the daily realities of life inside California’s San Quentin State Prison, shared by those living it. Co-founded by Bay Area artist Nigel Poor alongside Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams — who were incarcerated at the time — the podcast now tells stories from inside prison and from the outside, post-incarceration. In 2019, Rahsaan “New York” Thomas joined Ear Hustle as a co-host inside San Quentin.
Nigel Poor with Earlonne Woods:
"Ear hustle" is an idiom that means: "to listen in on a conversation that one is not a participant in; to eavesdrop."
An ear hustler is "slang for a “gossiper” or “eavesdropper,” especially those seeking to leverage whatever information they overhear to their advantage."
The meat and potatoes of the book proper is a mix between the two co-hosts talking, and interviewing other inmates. The formatting of this book was a bit unorthodox, but I felt that the final presentation really worked here. The book covers many different incarcerated people's stories; mainly from San Quentin. The audiobook version I have was mostly read by the people talked about, which was a nice touch. Some other voice actors were brought in, and this worked, too.
Some of the stories recounted here are pretty hardcore - but what else would you expect from a book about San Quentin Prison?? There's a lot of real-life gritty and nasty stuff covered here, including a few pretty graphic stories of brutal prison violence. It's raw and real. It's not all doom and gloom, tho, and the nuances of the different stories are covered in a balanced manner by the authors here.
Nigel Poor gives the reader a bit of her backstory:
"At the time, I was a professor of photography at California State University in Sacramento. We would frequently receive emails calling for volunteer teachers. It was through one of those emails that I first heard about an organization called the Prison University Project—a nonprofit organization that offers men inside San Quentin the opportunity to earn an AA degree. They were looking for someone to teach an art history class. At the time, this was the only on-site degree-granting program in California prisons, with all classes taught by volunteer teachers, professors, and graduate students from the Bay Area. It seemed like an ideal position. I could go inside with a purpose, meet the incarcerated men in an academic context, and use the tool I knew best at the time—photography—to form a connection and learn their stories.
In 2011, I started teaching the first history of photography class inside San Quentin. I taught the class for three semesters. Photographic images gave me and my students something to bond over, and became our bridge to conversation. Those conversations were the foundation for everything that came after..."
And describes some of her first encounters with prison and the inmates here:
"A prison is a kind of a cloistered society with rules and ways of being that were new and at times unreal to me. Understanding how to function as an outsider takes time. You have to learn to respect the racial divisions, the standards for how and when to deal with COs, and the all-important rule of minding your own business.
Navigating a prison as an outsider requires politeness, patience, and persistence. Without those three qualities, you will spin your wheels and burn out.
Prison life is more complicated than I could ever articulate. If I’d gone in presuming I understood the lay of the land, I would have been tremendously misguided. In addition to needing to intuit unspoken rules and figure out how to get through reels of administrative red tape, you also have to figure out—quickly—who you can trust. The biggest mistake volunteers make is entering with arrogance, presuming they know best what people inside want or need. Pre-cooked assumptions get you nowhere."
During the latter part of the book, co-author Earlonne Woods talks about how he feels California's famous 3-strikes law is unjust. He mentions how many thousands of people are doing life with no parole for relatively minor crimes, and are ultimately punished less than many murderers and violent rapists. He makes a good case here, and I think that there should be room for a more nuanced examination of things on a case-by-case basis.
This is surely a polarizing debate, and I'll leave my own personal opinion out of this review, aside from what I just wrote above.
***********************
I would recommend This Is Ear Hustle to anyone interested.
4.5 stars.
May 30, 2022
Was so excited to walk into the library and see this book after being a dedicated Ear Hustle listener. As always, the stories were wonderful and Nigel and Earlonne just ooze enthusiasm for the work. I love that the 3 strikes law was touched on here, seemed like a good plug. My only criticism is that I didn’t get a good sense of the direction of the book. It seemed to be sort of a random catalogue. My brain craves organization and direction so I struggled with this but only minimally. Definitely worth a read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2023
My daughter is starting her forensic psychology residency at California State Prison at Folsom, and she recommended this podcast to me. I loved it so much, that i had to read the book too. It's great to get so much insight into what she is doing on a daily basis. After listening to many years of the podcast and now the book, I feel like Nigel and Earlonne are my friends. Brilliant podcast and book.
October 27, 2022
Definitely read the audiobook if you can. It is such a unique experience being able to hear everybody's voices, a really immersive experience. And the podcast is great too. Also check out the uncuffed podcast.
April 25, 2022
Really interesting and unique book and about the Ear Hustle podcast. I loved listening to the banter between Earlonne and Nigel.
September 2, 2022
I listened to the audiobook and was totally enthralled. Excellent choice for San Francisco Public Library’s 2022 One City One Book https://sfpl.org/books-and-media/read...
July 31, 2023
A nice companion to the podcast. It was nice to see the other side of the curtain and focus on Earlonne and Nigel a bit more.
November 28, 2021
3.5*
Thanks to the publisher and authors for the free ARC I got in a GR giveaway.
This book is very much like the podcast in the way the stories are told. More background on the people involved--the hosts and the interviewees--than you get in the podcast.
However, there is quite a lot of podcast transcript that feels redundant to a reader who is also a listener.
Thanks to the publisher and authors for the free ARC I got in a GR giveaway.
This book is very much like the podcast in the way the stories are told. More background on the people involved--the hosts and the interviewees--than you get in the podcast.
However, there is quite a lot of podcast transcript that feels redundant to a reader who is also a listener.
May 25, 2023
I really enjoyed this "podcast in a book". It had a lot of great insight into the prison system and what its like for the men in there, as well as their families. It definitely made me want to listen to the show!
January 13, 2023
(4.5) This book has a lot to say about imprisonment in America, and I truly appreciate how the authors/co-hosts are able convey a lot just through interviews and their own personal perspectives. Somehow managing to be deeply informative and entertaining, what I am most struck by is the partnership between Nigel and Earlonne and how that informs their storytelling and purpose with this book and the podcast. I really have never read anything quite like this before and the audiobook made this especially memorable.
January 19, 2023
Learnt about this book from SFPL - https://sfpl.org/books-and-media/read...
I did not know about this podcast before picking up the book. This book talks about
- how the podcast came into existence,
- chronicles about the lives of Nigel and Earlonne
- Life outside and life inside of prison
- California three strikes law
- Re-integration to the society after the prison
Overall, a worthwhile listen.
I did not know about this podcast before picking up the book. This book talks about
- how the podcast came into existence,
- chronicles about the lives of Nigel and Earlonne
- Life outside and life inside of prison
- California three strikes law
- Re-integration to the society after the prison
Overall, a worthwhile listen.
December 21, 2021
This book is near and dear! As a jail librarian for over 12 years, I became an early fan of the podcast. After leaving the jail library this year, this book reminded me of stories, tales and life "on the inside." Powerful in their mission, Nigel and Earlonne prove why the podcast is award-winning and their relationship so incredibly endearing.
December 13, 2022
This is my favorite podcast so I was really hoping the book wouldn’t disappoint; it didn’t! The chapters all had themes and were a nice mix of background info, transcripts and pondering. Can’t wait to see what’s in store next. If you haven’t listened to the podcast, start at the beginning!
March 25, 2023
i’ve never been a podcast girlie, and haven’t listen to the Ear Hustle podcast before starting this book, so it says a lot that i’m about to become a regular Ear Hustle podcast fan. LOVE this book and hearing about the real experiences that occur in prison
February 7, 2023
This was a remarkable book.
February 26, 2023
A book everyone should read. Both heartbreaking and hopeful and just plain beautiful
December 9, 2022
There was a lot of unnecessary profanity. I understand we're talking about prison but it seemed like it was just thrown in at random and awkward moments, not flowing naturally. It's kind of like, "wait, we haven't said f*** enough in this paragraph. Add some note of wisdom, and add f*** at the end of the sentence. Twice."
There's this idea in prison that you must maintain a certain image or give in to the pressures of drugs and such. He recalled asking an inmate: "you've been in prison for seven years and you've never tried heroin? No, I've never tried heroin. Normal people don't just "try" heroin. I felt so stupid." It was an epiphany that you don't have to "fit in."
Prison helps you to find who you are and value time. The things that you said you don't have time for while out make you realize you can make the time based on what you experienced while locked up.
I don't love the format of this book. It felt like listening to an interview between distracted hosts who needed reminders that this is being recorded as a book, not a q&a section between friends goofing around. It did get better near the end of the book.
It's interesting that one interviewee said, "rape is a myth in prison." This was from a male perspective but the women's version of this was completely different. The biggest obstacle women face is sexual harassment.
The first shock for everyone is usually how dirty the prison is and the humility they must face. This includes random (often unnecessary) strip searches, even for visitors and kids. Guards are even bold enough to check little girls to see if they are wearing a bra since it's a requirement for women to wear. The guards were often controlling for the sake of being in charge of someone and let that aggression out.
He gave the advice that everyone should write their own eulogy and update it every year. Don't leave it to another person to tell who you are because what they write is based on making them feel better. Which I think is a great idea.
These aren't just deadbeat inmates. Many of the stories come from those that were listening to bad influences, happened to be at the scene of the crime, or were in prestigious roles. Of course, some did deserve it.
One of the women said she would have fled to Mexico if she knew she'd be sentenced to ten years. The host asked, "you would have done that to your family?" She says "yes, I would have because I didn't want to do that to my family" or put them through that. This response is likely why she went to prison. It's okay to escape to save your family from a trial but leave them under the pressure of surveillance and interrogation of your whereabouts? What a selfish answer. No accountability.
"The system isn't broken. It works for 'them.' It works exactly as it was designed." Those higher up executives think the system is just fine. The reason that many petty crimes get a longer life sentence is because of the three strikes rule. They get anywhere from 50-200 years more than that of a murderer, that gets 15-25. In addition, the three strike inmates must serve their full base sentence before they can even be considered for parole.
I've never listened to the podcast but the format of the book seems to be a recap of those stories so it probably isn't recommended if you listen to it often. Much of this is what we already know about the prison system so I'm sure the podcast is much more interesting.
There's this idea in prison that you must maintain a certain image or give in to the pressures of drugs and such. He recalled asking an inmate: "you've been in prison for seven years and you've never tried heroin? No, I've never tried heroin. Normal people don't just "try" heroin. I felt so stupid." It was an epiphany that you don't have to "fit in."
Prison helps you to find who you are and value time. The things that you said you don't have time for while out make you realize you can make the time based on what you experienced while locked up.
I don't love the format of this book. It felt like listening to an interview between distracted hosts who needed reminders that this is being recorded as a book, not a q&a section between friends goofing around. It did get better near the end of the book.
It's interesting that one interviewee said, "rape is a myth in prison." This was from a male perspective but the women's version of this was completely different. The biggest obstacle women face is sexual harassment.
The first shock for everyone is usually how dirty the prison is and the humility they must face. This includes random (often unnecessary) strip searches, even for visitors and kids. Guards are even bold enough to check little girls to see if they are wearing a bra since it's a requirement for women to wear. The guards were often controlling for the sake of being in charge of someone and let that aggression out.
He gave the advice that everyone should write their own eulogy and update it every year. Don't leave it to another person to tell who you are because what they write is based on making them feel better. Which I think is a great idea.
These aren't just deadbeat inmates. Many of the stories come from those that were listening to bad influences, happened to be at the scene of the crime, or were in prestigious roles. Of course, some did deserve it.
One of the women said she would have fled to Mexico if she knew she'd be sentenced to ten years. The host asked, "you would have done that to your family?" She says "yes, I would have because I didn't want to do that to my family" or put them through that. This response is likely why she went to prison. It's okay to escape to save your family from a trial but leave them under the pressure of surveillance and interrogation of your whereabouts? What a selfish answer. No accountability.
"The system isn't broken. It works for 'them.' It works exactly as it was designed." Those higher up executives think the system is just fine. The reason that many petty crimes get a longer life sentence is because of the three strikes rule. They get anywhere from 50-200 years more than that of a murderer, that gets 15-25. In addition, the three strike inmates must serve their full base sentence before they can even be considered for parole.
I've never listened to the podcast but the format of the book seems to be a recap of those stories so it probably isn't recommended if you listen to it often. Much of this is what we already know about the prison system so I'm sure the podcast is much more interesting.
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July 8, 2024I was unaware of the Ear Hustle podcast prior to encountering this book, but once you start listening, it's obvious that the digital audio platform is its home. Nigel and Earlonne interview inmates of the San Quentin prison to give a holistic view of how the prison system functions on the inside and affects all parties on the outside. Keeping a casual, informative tone Nigel and Earlonne never make listeners feel like they are reading a dissertation, but also not being talked down to. All information is presented in a digestible manner without leaving too much of a depressing taste in your mouth.
If you read/listen to this book and enjoy it, please watch the documentary What I Want My Words To Do To You. I really enjoy both these pieces of media that highlight inmate experiences because it's about the people themselves who happen to be in prison and not so much the prison system itself.
If you read/listen to this book and enjoy it, please watch the documentary What I Want My Words To Do To You. I really enjoy both these pieces of media that highlight inmate experiences because it's about the people themselves who happen to be in prison and not so much the prison system itself.
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