2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. E WOODS: Right. I mean, there's two likely outcomes if you're robbing drug dealers. Toni Storm is well-known in the wres. And as time went on, as years went on, I stuck to my guns. As a result, it is unknown whether Earlonne is single, dating, or married. GROSS: That people can change and that you should look at the person and not just the crime - that you'd still be in prison, I mean? By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. [16], Alfred I. duPontColumbia University Award, "Immigrants facing deportation, drug offenders and a former state lawmaker receive pardons from Gov. And you also spent time in solitary, where it's very hard to stay sane. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. He had just became a paramedic or something. In November 2018, Woods' sentence was commuted by California governor Jerry Brown. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College, and completed many vocational programs. GROSS: And Nigel, just as a person who's constantly interacting with inmates at San Quentin, do you want to know what they're incarcerated for, what crime they were convicted of? In 2018, California governor Jerry Brown commuted Earlonne Woods' sentence, citing Ear Hustle as a significant contributor to his reformation as an American citizen. So I want to ask you each to choose one thing that you would like to change in the system of - in the prison system or in mass incarceration. POOR: It is a different world over there. The two established a rapport,[6] and Poor proposed the idea of creating a podcast to Woods, who had previously not known what a podcast was. He said Woods has clearly shown that he is no longer the man he was when he committed the crime. Woods is a full-time producer, co-host, and co-creator of PRXs Ear Hustle with Nigel Poor. And Trevor, your brother, speaks first. I'm on a podcast. You know, at that particular moment, in that mindset - like today, am I OK with that? In 1997, Earlonne was sentenced to thirty-one years to life in prison. E WOODS: Yeah, so that's cool. And I stopped by this lake. This piece has been updated with news of Woods hiring onto the podcast team. WOODS: It's unrealistic, but I think about just getting out of San Quentin, jumping in the water and swimming to my yacht and going around the world. So I was nervous at first to go in because, I mean, my head was full of all the images that, you know, of - from bad TV, bad movies, bad media about what prison was going to be like. So I'm not thinking that it's serious as much as I'm hearing. E WOODS: I, personally, would like to eradicate California's three strikes law because I think that there's a lot of people that's sentenced under this law, which everybody thinks is 25 to life. She'll continue to do interviews inside San Quentin. POOR: That's his obsession. He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California . [14] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Poor said the show is "about everyday life inside a prison. Co-founded by San Francisco Bay Area artist Nigel Poor alongside Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams who were incarcerated at the time the podcast now tells stories from both inside prison and from the outside, post-incarceration. Poor's teaching work led her to a vast archive filled with photographs taken from life inside the prison that she began using in . GROSS: The new, as yet, unannounced host will be with you (laughter). And at one point, he revealed to me that he had raped quite a few women. He is a man of average stature. And my whole thinking, like, changed in that moment. Earlonne was both co-host and inmate. I was hoping I could talk to you a little bit about it. Woods and Poor cohost the show while Williams does the show's sound design, working in San Quentin's media lab to record music and effects, including foley work. It addresses important issues about being human and how prisoners can be contributing citizens. It was the first podcast to be entirely created and produced inside a prison. HuffPost visited Woods at San Quentin earlier this year to discuss why he created the podcast. It was - and it's not just her. Trevor was wanted and was on the run. We will update you once we have more information about Earlonnes marital status. And it has made me - it has made me care about men so much more. Why we living like we don't care - because this is somehow how we grew up and how - since as early teenager we've been living in the streets, in the gangs. POOR: You get a lot of calls from guys at San E WOODS: I get a lot of 15-minute calls from prison. So, Nigel, when you decided you wanted to start, like, a interview series that started on KALW - the public - one of the public radio stations in San Francisco, and then it became a podcast - you wanted a co-host and co-producer who was incarcerated in San Quentin. E WOODS: And she even got mad at me the other day E WOODS: 'Cause I left dinner with everyone, and I went to the movies by myself to go see "Vice" (laughter). POOR: I know. The podcast team announced Tuesday that it will hire Woods as an employee on the show. California Gov. [3], Woods completed his General Educational Development in prison, as well as vocational courses such as auto mechanics. He is a podcast host correspondent. And it's the way people would hope other people think that, hey, OK, I've done my time. I'm not doing that. POOR: I'm so glad you asked about this. I wouldn't spend time in a place that made me uncomfortable or I didn't like. "[9] The series is not overtly political, but Poor emphasizes the way the show can have a humanizing effect, making listeners care about the men they hear on the show and wonder why one of the hosts might serve a life sentence for attempted robbery. I told him that constantly. [3] According to The Economist, by this time Woods was one of the most famous incarcerated people in the US. Woods is expected to be released on parole in the coming days, after serving 21 years of a 31-years-to-life sentence. Part of HuffPost News. I was on some - I would like to say other words, but I'm holding my (laughter) E WOODS: (Laughter) I'm on the radio. For the first few months after Earlonne Woods was released from San Quentin in November, his "Ear Hustle" podcast co-host Nigel Poor kept receiving photos of ice cream on her phone. And I hit the floor. But we knew that, you know, it's traditional for the governor to do these commutations right before Thanksgiving. But I took way more from that person than $1. When Earlonne was in, I was probably in there 40-plus hours a week, and I'm not a masochist. Tyler was sent to live with extended family. They grow up literally., In Browns letter announcing the commutation, the governor echoed that thought, saying Woods has clearly shown that he is no longer the man he was when he committed this crime., He has set a positive example, Brown wrote. SHAPIRO: Earlonne Woods had to leave the media lab to take the call. And you may be incarcerated 15, 20 years. OK. There's all these restrictions. POOR: So we were in the media lab working and - you know, trying to work, trying to stay concentrated. And that's the only way of life that you're accustomed to 'cause that's all you see. He and Nigel are also the authors of This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life, a book that was inspired by the podcast and released by Crown/Random House. And to hear - to take that in and to not be afraid and to not judge a person but to, like, sit with it and think about it and think about this was 30 years ago, like I just - I had to do a lot of work around that. Why am I doing this? But very quickly, when we started talking about photography - I was teaching a history of photography class - that kind of melted away. The sound was recorded because he's the co-host and co-producer of the podcast Ear Hustle, which features interviews with San Quentin inmates talking about daily life there, things like living with a cellmate in a tiny cell, what it's like to be in solitary confinement, the heartbreak of being a parent separated from your child, how everything inside is separated by race and so on. In March 2016, the Public Radio Exchange's Radiotopia network put out a call for new podcast ideas via an initiative called Podquest, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. It was so kick-back and cool, meaning I take advantage of all these moments now. Why didn't you invite me (laughter)? You know that it could be a possibility, but it's a possibility that you've seen pretty much your whole life, you know? It's like - I think they're not under the constraints or the pressures to not accept people. Earlonnes sentence was recently commuted, but the two proceed to tell stories of life behind bars. You feel invincible in some ways. Everybody we know live the same lifestyle, you know? This is FRESH AIR. I used to sit there and ask God, "Like, why am I living if I have to die?" And I think at that age I was questioning God. And it might help you. They said that, hey, when you went to jail when you were 17 - yeah, it was one time, but there was two convictions in that case. How do you deal with family, love, depression, having children, finding meaning in life? You may be a changed individual, all the way changed, would never commit another crime. E WOODS: Well, me growing up the way I grew up, I grew up in a lifestyle where I was young when I got into selling drugs, and I was - I was real young. Copyright 2019 NPR. Yes, he can come to my house. [8][9] Poor is a visual artist in the San Francisco Bay area who volunteers at the prison. And many people around me wasn't like that. [3], Woods met artist and volunteer Nigel Poor, who was teaching photography at the film school. I felt like in Earlonne I found a true professional colleague. So I've technically only been free 20 years in my life, and, since I was 17, I've been free maybe three years all together. Jerry Brown commuted his sentence for attempted armed robbery. I'm doing that. You're sitting across from law enforcement. Woods was unaware his two convictions as a juvenile counted as two 'strikes', which made his conviction at 25 count as his third under California's three strikes law. It's - it's - I think being in a position to step away from it all and look back and say, man, I was on something else. Those are my partners. But that was a case that challenged my desire to not know and to - how to deal with the knowing once it's been presented to you. What we did was humanize [prisoners], just by telling their stories, Woods said in February. (SOUNDBITE OF GOLDMUND'S "THE BALLAD OF BARBARA ALLEN"). He is 5 feet 7 inches tall ( Approx1.7 m). Poor is a professor of photography at California State University in Sacramento. And you start thinking differently, you know? [4] Its first season began on June 14, 2017. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College, and completed many vocational programs. Don't be - whatever you do, don't play with no guns. In 2016, it was selected by the Radiotopia network as the winner of its Podquest competition, and the following year released its first season. Not one bit, you know? GROSS: Nigel, when you first started volunteering in San Quentin, what were some of the things you had to deal with as a woman teaching in a prison of men? NIGEL POOR: You know, E, you've been in prison 20 years. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College, and completed many vocational programs. He's been behind bars for more than 20 years. Nigel first went to San Quentin as a volunteer teaching photography. Along with Nigel Poor, he is a full-time producer, co-host, and co-creator of Ear Hustle at PRX. Woods has served 21 years of a 31 to life prison sentence. Or would you just as soon not know and just judge them based on what they present to you in their interactions with you? I'd rather not know. Nigel is a professor of photography at Cal State. I was questioning everything. This lady - her name was Claire. I'm not doing this. [9], In a Rolling Stone article about the show, Tana Ganeva called it "a fascinating, harrowing and also deeply entertaining look into life on the inside that runs the full gamut of emotions. Woods helped create Ear Hustle while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. I think it's about probably 20 people from there that call me collect. Before creating the podcast, Woods and Poor did interviews with inmates in San Quentin for public radio station KALW in San Francisco. What are some of the ways you think you've changed over the years? [9][7] Ear Hustle was the first podcast entirely recorded and produced inside a prison. Governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence in November, and Woods regained his freedom after serving 21 years of his sentence. Like, all of a sudden, you know POOR: We'll be like regular colleagues. He went up there. He gave up his brother name. Earlonnes average salary is $61,244 per year. Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor started the podcast Ear Hustle when Woods was a prisoner in San Quentin. His commutation includes reference to Earlonne's work on the podcast. Earlonne continues to co-host the show with Nigel. The rest of it is just an enhancement. Ear Hustle was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting, and won a Alfred I. duPontColumbia University Award in 2021. Nigel Poor assures us the podcast will continue with Earlonne contributing stories from the outside. And when I went to prison, it was pretty much the California Department of Corrections, and there was not a rehabilitation on the name then. E WOODS: I don't - I think when you're living in the moment, you feel untouchable. So me, personally, I would eradicate the three strikes law in California. The San Francisco Public Library chose the title for its One City One Book citywide community reading program in 2022. But it was just - it was spectacular. [7] They recruited fellow inmates Antwan Williams as the show's sound designer,[8] and submitted their idea for a podcast to a contest hosted by Radiotopia. Then there are those marriages that become the subjects of books . Usually, you can't go back into a correctional facility on parole. And they open fired on him. POOR: But I get to see his brother and catch him up on what you're doing. With grace and humor they walk through what life is really like behind bars, showing the humanity and depth of those they meet inside." --Catherine Burns, artistic director, The Moth "I listen to Ear . Your nephew, his son, Tyler, was born in 1994. He had served 21 years of a 31-years-to-life sentence. It was like 2 in the morning. Earlonne was an inmate as well as a host. And so I found out what you're in prison for. Earlier this year, we introduced you to a man named Earlonne Woods who got some big news yesterday. I've never felt scared or disrespected. Earlonne stands at a height of 5 ft 7 in ( Approx1.7 m). You guys are killing me (laughter). Earlonne is busy reporting on re-entry stories and daily life for originally incarcerated people, while also documenting his own experiences. Co-produced by inmates Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams . And when you're in that moment, I think it's more of crime to people in society that commit crime. [3][4] In 1997, at the age of 25, he was arrested for attempted second degree robbery. So you recorded interviews with Trevor and Tyra talking about how difficult it is to maintain a relationship with your child when you're incarcerated and how difficult it is to help them stay out of trouble. My guests are Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, the co-creators of Ear Hustle, a podcast featuring their interviews with men incarcerated in San Quentin. Jerry Brown (D) has commuted the prison sentence of Earlonne Woods, whose hit podcast Ear Hustle explores life inside San Quentin State Prison. China. He is 49 years old. Since the podcasts launch in 2017, its been downloaded, announcing the commutation, the governor echoed that thought, saying Woods has clearly shown that he is no longer the man he was when he committed this crime.. Ear Hustle co-hosted by Woods and Nigel Poor, an artist and volunteer at San Quentin interviews men in the prison about their lives there. He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California . His sentence was commuted yesterday. And this time, they had something for me, which was the three-strike law. [13], The term "ear hustle" is prison slang for eavesdropping. Earlonne, tell us a little more about what happened to Tyler, how he was killed. POOR: It's the bay - yeah, the bay, yeah. One is that you're going to get killed, and the other is that you'll eventually go to jail. And for most people - for most people inside, they just want the chance to represent the person that they are today, you know? Woods was serving a 31-years-to-life sentence for attempted 2nd degree robbery due to a three-strikes law before having his sentence commuted in 2018. Earlonne was both host and inmate, but he was released in November after his sentence was commuted by California Governor Jerry Brown. GROSS: Yeah. Did you give him a hug? [5][15] In 2020, alongside Poor and co-host Rahsaan Thomas, Woods was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. T WOODS: One the 19 - November 19, 2013 - federal prison - we have phones, and we have emails. So I believe that crimes have sentencing under them. And I believe, personally, that that will ease overcrowding because there are a lot of people in prison that deserve to be out. You know, he was - you know, I even - I'm talking to him all the time. POOR: Well, let me ask you this - do you feel like we're being unfair trying to make you do this? GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guests are Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, the co-hosts and co-producers of the podcast Ear Hustle. So now we just have the opportunity to travel together, to do something like this together. But you look back, and you're looking at it like, I've wasted, like - I can say right now, I'm 47 years old. He has the age of 49. [7] Woods relocated to Oakland, California after his release, and was hired full-time as a producer and co-host of Ear Hustle. POOR: I walked him to the gate; you know, wished him good luck. GROSS: So something I found really interesting is that the group that is multicultural and not segregated by race or ethnicity is the group that's into, like - the nerds, the group that are into, like, sci-fi fantasy and stuff like that. "[16] Quah contrasts standard prison narratives told entirely from an outsider's point of view with the interplay of insider and outsider perspectives provided by the hosts of Ear Hustle, with stories primarily told through Woods' and Williams' words and perspectives, and Poor in an active role adding "key narrative housekeeping". He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California . And I was paroled when I was 23, about to turn 24. Woods helped create Ear Hustle while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. [17], Last edited on 21 December 2022, at 04:36, "Host Of The Prison Podcast 'Ear Hustle' Reflects On His 27 Years Behind Bars", "After parole, podcast producers are turning skills learned in prison into paying gigs", "Prison-produced podcast 'Ear Hustle' lets you listen to real stories of incarcerated life", "The story of "Ear Hustle", a podcast made by prisoners at San Quentin", "Podcast on prison stories wins PRX backing", "California inmate Walter 'Earlonne' Woods takes unlikely path to freedom: A popular podcast called 'Ear Hustle', "With eyes on the inside, 'Ear Hustle' makes the big time with its look at prisoners", "Earlonne Woods, Co-Host Of 'Ear Hustle' Podcast, Gets Prison Sentence Commuted", "San Quentin's Breakthrough Prison Newsroom", "This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Earlonne_Woods&oldid=1128635338, This page was last edited on 21 December 2022, at 04:36. So they don't even have the opportunity to even go in front of the board to say, hey, look, for the last 21 years, I've changed, you know, because their board dates ain't till 2150, you know? He is now 47. I was going to Nigel's house the other day, and I was an hour early. Is that OK? And at the end of November, Governor Jerry Brown commuted his sentence. So even though I'm hearing stuff and then I'm talking to him, he playing - he downplaying it. Earlonne was born in 1972, in the United States. And, Earlonne, since you served so much time, let's start with you. The three strikes law in California time Woods was a finalist for the Pulitzer. Not accept people together, to do interviews inside San Quentin State prison podcast... To San Quentin for public radio station KALW in San Quentin for public radio KALW., so that 's cool: well, let 's start with you paroled when I was paroled when was... 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