Ear Hustle

Locked Down Again

As the Coronavirus pandemic locks down parts of America and the world, we revisit an episode from 2018 about how the San Quentin community manages a prison lockdown.
During a San Quentin lockdown, the prison grinds to a halt, and men are confined to their cells 24 hours a day. What causes a lockdown, and how do guys survive the wait when boredom, uncertainty, hunger and isolation can push them over the edge?
A heads-up: this episode contains discussion of suicide and self-harm — listener discretion is advised. You can reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Find a full list of episode credits at <a href="http://earhustlesq.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">earhustlesq.com</a>, where you can also sign up for our newsletter and or send a question (by postcard) that might get answered in a future episode. Ear Hustle is a proud member of <a href="https://www.radiotopia.fm/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Radiotopia</a>, from PRX.
Thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Acting Warden Ron Broomfield for their support.

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.