What are some of the ways you think you've changed over the years? While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College, and completed many vocational programs. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. GROSS: That Tyler was killed while they were in prison. SHAPIRO: That's Earlonne Woods from the podcast "Ear Hustle." POOR: You get a lot of calls from guys at San E WOODS: I get a lot of 15-minute calls from prison. . I think the scope of the number of people that could possibly listen to this, I'm just really nervous about that. That stuff carries 17 years. They're the co-hosts and co-producers of the podcast Ear Hustle, which features interviews with men incarcerated in San Quentin about their daily lives and their personal stories. [5][15] In 2020, alongside Poor and co-host Rahsaan Thomas, Woods was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College and completed many vocational trade programs. Hae-soo married his non-celebrity bride on January 14, 2019, according to sources. Nigel is a professor of photography at California State University in Sacramento. [3] After two rounds of judging, Ear Hustle was selected as the winner and added to the Radiotopia network. Earlonnes estimated net worth is $657,586. [12] On October 19, 2021, co-hosts Poor and Woods released a book on the podcast, This Is Ear Hustle. Trevor has done 14 years of a 36-year sentence. GROSS: Nigel, let me bring you into the conversation. Earlonne is busy reporting on re-entry stories and daily life for people who were previously incarcerated, as well as documenting his own experiences. We'll be right back. E WOODS: It's the bay. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College, and completed many vocational programs. GROSS: Are you going to go back and visit him? T WOODS: You know, he was ripping and running with the gangs. You know, he calls me. So how do you keep going? I've changed my life. Earlonnes average salary is $61,244 per year. They say hello. And they open fired on him. He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California . And as they questioned the driver, the passenger officer seen tattoos and Tyler's face and started questioning him, made him get out the car. Woods was involved in an attempted robbery in 1997, when he was in his 20s. Accuracy and availability may vary. And he's standing in a group. I'm always interested in people who - I'm quiet myself. POOR: I can let Earlonne answer that one. And I mean, we just knew that was the call. He is 5 feet 7 inches tall ( Approx1.7 m). Earlonne Woods is the co-creator, co-host, and co-producer of Ear Hustle (PRX & Radiotopia). And one of my goals has been for us to travel to other prisons, and I never wanted to do that without Earlonne. Nigel Poor is a professor of photography at California State University in Sacramento. Im thinking about my mama, shes 70. After 21 years in prison, Governor Brown the great governor of California decided that I served enough time, Woods said in the latest. Woods' sentence was recently commuted, but the two continue to tell stories of life. He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California . My guests are Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, the co-hosts and co-producers of Ear Hustle, a podcast featuring their interviews with men incarcerated in San Quentin. Copyright 2018 NPR. 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. Brown cited Woods' leadership in . I find it invigorating. He was sentenced to 31 years to life for attempted robbery in 1999. POOR: That's his obsession. So prison was more like, oh, hey, this is a place to go and continue your gang activity, continue your destructive behavior. 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. And, like a lot of inmates, he's been thinking about this moment for a long time. I'm Terry Gross. But on the second term after - once you receive a life sentence, there's no guarantee that you'll ever be released from prison. He running with these hard heads. We can go to a restaurant. When Earlonne was in, I was probably in there 40-plus hours a week, and I'm not a masochist. In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Lexi Mainland wrote "The runaway hit Ear Hustle never takes a broad look at criminal justice policy or employs Voice of God narration. And when you're in that moment, I think it's more of crime to people in society that commit crime. Like, all of a sudden, you know POOR: We'll be like regular colleagues. [2], Woods first went to prison at 17 for two concurrent convictions of kidnapping and robbing a drug dealer, and was released at 23. She'll continue to do interviews inside San Quentin. OK. But he was released in November after his sentence was commuted by California Governor Jerry Brown. Earlonne became preoccupied with reporting on re-entry stories and daily life for people who had previously been incarcerated, as well as documenting his own experiences. Earlonne still co-hosts the show alongside Nigel. We'll be right back. 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 . I don't think I have the vision to see it. Tyra got arrested first for kidnap and robbery, and she was sentenced to 17 years. Like, I take you as the man you are in front of me. He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California . You start really understanding what the word community means and what your participation in community is about, you know? It focuses on both the personal and the political, shedding light on issues of mass incarceration and the criminal justice system by telling intimate, humanizing stories, like the tale of one inmates obsession with keeping small critters as pets in his cell or anothers struggle to be intimate with his wife while behind bars. Woods has served 21 years of a 31 to life prison sentence. And I was - yeah, I was definitely nervous. 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. And they - and I received 31 years to life. I think I was probably like eight years old when it came to me that one day I have to die. This is what we work for because there comes a moment in every person in prison's life where the light switch go on. And at one point, he revealed to me that he had raped quite a few women. You have to go through a lot of E WOODS: Yeah, it's a lot of stuff you have to go through. GROSS: My guests are Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods, the creators and hosts of the podcast Ear Hustle about life inside San Quentin Prison. GROSS: OK, so that was a little more than five years ago that Tyler was killed. Woods was raised in South Los Angeles with his parents and his older brother Trevor. His net worth is estimated to be $657,586. So I think what kept me sane is that I had the philosophy where, I am going to live to the best of my ability every day that I have left on this Earth no matter where I'm at. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Earlonne Woods is the co-creator, co-host, and co-producer of Ear Hustle (PRX & Radiotopia). POOR: So I'm just going to be very blunt with you. [5][6], The show is produced by Earlonne Woods, Rahsaan "New York" Thomas, and Nigel Poor. You know, prison, I'm going to live to the best of my ability. 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). Earlonnes sentence was recently commuted, but the two continue to share their experiences behind bars. And I'm not even talking about physically intimate, but just emotionally intimate is against regulations. 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. Or is he a good talker? 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. Yes, he can come to my house. Despite the lack of physical or forensic evidence, Caramad Conley was convicted of conspiracy to commit first degree murder, two counts of first degree murder, and eleven counts of attempted E WOODS: Right. In November 2018, Woods' sentence was commuted by California governor Jerry Brown. Nigel Poor assures us the podcast will continue with Earlonne contributing stories from the outside. I mean POOR: No, we're not allowed. And it was one of them, I guess could you say, moments where you just feel embarrassed about your previous conduct. And her son had attended a party. He received a sentence of 31-years-to-life. Earlonne Woods is the co-creator, co-host, and co-producer of Ear Hustle (PRX & Radiotopia). E WOODS: So I think that goes into, like, what they call politics in prison and where, you know, you may have certain prisons that it matters what you're in prison for like - and it's a difference on a race level. He likes to keep his personal life private hence Earlonne has not mentioned any details concerning his marital status. GROSS: That's the sound of the San Quentin prison door slamming as my guest Earlonne Woods was released in late November after being incarcerated there for seven years. [16] In 2021, Woods and Poor co-authored the book This Is Ear Hustle. They're very polite. It was other people telling, you know, their stories about being robbed or losing a child, losing a loved one. His sentence was commuted yesterday. Earlonne has not yet revealed any information about his parents. His first book, OG Told Me, is a memoir-style collection of essays about Harshaw's. GROSS: Wait; so that means, like, you'd rather die than be E WOODS: Yes, yes. I was hoping I could talk to you a little bit about it. POOR: There's something I have to talk to you about. So now we just have the opportunity to travel together, to do something like this together. GROSS: And, Earlonne, I look forward to your interviews with people who, like you, are transitioning back into society from prison. Usually, you can't go back into a correctional facility on parole. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College, and completed many vocational programs. It didn't work out, unfortunately. Poor, a professor of photography at CSU Sacramento, was volunteering with the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison when she met Woods, who was serving a 31-year-to-life sentence. She co-created the podcast with Woods and has co-hosted and co-produced it with him. Copyright 2019 NPR. And I keep thinking, like, a week from now, Earlonne and I could be having dinner outside the prison together (laughter). 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. [8][9] Poor is a visual artist in the San Francisco Bay area who volunteers at the prison. Earlonne is 5 feet 7 inches tall ( Approx1.7 m). Due to the complex and time-consuming bureaucratic challenges associated with unusual prison activities, she decided that audio would be easier to manage than video. And I think it would help demystify a lot of the assumptions that people have about who's in prison and who should be there. But the law don't see your rehabilitation. 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, which features interviews with men incarcerated in San Quentin Prison about their daily lives and their personal stories. The victims of a crime are faceless. And your brother is still in San Quentin. Here you guys are, poking and - poking and prodding. After 21 years in prison, Governor Brown the great governor of California decided that I served enough time, Woods said in the latest episode of Ear Hustle. And I got into this group. So you're interviewing a prisoner who - he and one of the volunteers fell in love, and so she stopped working there in any capacity, and they got married. E WOODS: I like my colors bright these days. While incarcerated, he received his GED, attended Coastline Community College and completed many vocational trade programs. And as time went on, as years went on, I stuck to my guns. I've never had a problem. But apparently it's fine - like, if you fall in love, the prisoner and the volunteer fall in love, that's fine as long as the volunteer or the staff person is no longer going to be working there in any capacity. SHAPIRO: Nigel Poor told us that when Earlonne Woods came back POOR: He was walking with a lot of air in his step. 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