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This month is all about gratitude, and I'm grateful for a lot of things, Erlon, including you.
Oh, right back at you, Nodge.
And you know what?There's a person we don't often remember to thank, ourselves.
Yep, like buy ourselves some flowers or something.When was the last time you did that?
Exactly.You know, in a way, that's what therapy is.It's doing something nice just for you.BetterHelp empowers you to be the best version of yourself.
Yeah, therapy isn't only for people who experience major trauma.It's helpful for all of us.And BetterHelp is entirely online, convenient, and flexible.
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My name is Nathan Dalton.I'm a producer with the Kitchen Sisters and also an office mate with the Ear Hustle team.This episode of Ear Hustle contains discussion of suicide and other content that may not be appropriate for all listeners.
You and my chemist were going up so you can describe where we're going.
Ah, what's up man.So right now we're in West Block and we're going up the stairs.Right now we're going to the first and second tier, but we plan to go all the- Ow!Fuck, I just walked into a firebox.We're going to the fifth tier.
We're gonna go see something.
Okay, so just as a reminder, this is part two of a project I've been working on with the team inside, where together, we go to these different places inside San Quentin that are significant to each of the guys.
So in the first half, we heard from Tony Tafoya, Tom Wynn, and Darrell Sadiq Davis.
Who's, damn, so Tony, did Trinidad get a whole episode?Not only do you get two episodes for your original one, Tony, did Trinidad get his own episode?
Well, remember, there's another big component to the story.
Okay, you're right, you're right, you're right.
And we will get there, but first, Tony de Trinidad had a place he really wanted to show us.
So, we're here on the fifth tier of West Block, right?Whenever I was feeling cooped up, lockdowns, can't feel like I can get outside, I would come up here and I would look out there.All right.Now you can look.Okay.
This is probably the best view in prison.This is like the one place where the windows in San Quentin are not fogged up.You can kind of see the bay, San Francisco Bay, right outside with the guard tower and then Mount Tamalpais, right?
All right, I know that spot.You do?It's a cool spot, you know, kind of hidden away.You know, there's no other place at San Quentin like it.When you're inside a prison, pretty much any prison, all you see is prison.Right.You know what I'm saying?
There's no looking out the window and seeing regular people or on the streets or houses or anything like that.It's just prison walls. prison fences, prisoners, and prison staff.That's all you see.
Right.But from this little spot that Tony had taken us to, through this very dirty window, you could see this sliver of, like, regular life outside the walls.
On the nice days, you can catch sunsets.You know what I mean?At nighttime, you can see lights across the water.And then sometimes you can see the ferry crossing by.So it's everything that's not prison.
I'm sitting here, I'm in prison, I can look outside.
What I notice is that you can see all the cars driving by.So you know that people are out there being busy.
So yeah, there's signs of life.
Yeah.I'm going to attempt to look over the rail.
Okay, I'm going to have to touch the rail here.
I'm looking over.I got that feeling in my stomach.
From inside any building in prison, looking out any window, have you ever seen a better view?
I'm Erlon Woods.And this is Ear Hustle from PRX's Radiotopia.Today on the show, the most hidden spot in San Quentin.That's right, Erlon.We are going into East Block.
Formerly known as Death Row.
So the reason I invited Tony and the other guys on the inside team to take us to a special place was because we wanted to explore this notion that memory gets left behind in a physical space that is meaningful to you, that you've spent a lot of time in.
And we wanted to see if that happened inside of prison too.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I think from the outside, you know, these spots look pretty drab.Is that a word?
But they look different through the eyes of someone who's experienced something important there.
Exactly.Exactly.And all of this was a buildup for a visit to Death Row, which, Erlon, was a huge deal.I mean, none of us had been there before.
I know you wouldn't have come.
And listeners who heard part one will remember that San Quentin recently closed its death row doors and relocated the people that was on the row to other prisons in the state.So the building, also known as East Block, was empty.
And the Insight team and I were going to see it.You know, we really weren't sure what it was going to feel like.And that's something that we talked about in the days leading up to this, you know, adventure we were about to have.
There's probably going to be a lot of dust.I think it's going to have this, honestly, like a deep sadness.
Do either of you believe that places hold on to the memory of what's happened there?
I believe so.Yes, I believe it lives in the building.Yeah, definitely.And I heard a lot of people didn't want to leave.It was a lot of screams and yelling.So a lot of that stuff is still there.
Why do you think people didn't want to leave?
It was comfortable.They didn't want to, this is all they knew.They thought they was going to die here.So for you just to up and take, take them away, it's like, and then you have to remember that these guys spent 30, 40 years by themselves.
Everything was handcuffed by themselves.So now to go out to a mainline and to sell up with someone, it's scary.It's like, what am I supposed to do?How am I supposed to react?
I'm, like, nervous energy about going up there, but I do really want to see how people live.I'm really curious about what's left behind.So are we finally going in?Yes, we are.
It says, must show ID upon entering.Security vest is mandatory in this unit.
There's a big metal thing.
Watch your step.Wow.So what do you see when you first walk in, Tony?
Right now I see a bunch of lockers and it says Eastpac lock medic clinic.
Okay, all right.So right now it looks like any housing unit that I've seen at San Quentin.But let's step in further.
There's a lot more fences at every point it looks like.You know, it's not as open.
Yeah, they've probably been cleaning in here.All right, should we go up to the fifth tier?
Yeah, let's make our way up.Okay.
And to get from tier to tier, of course, there's a staircase.And as we were passing by each cell, we just kind of cataloged what we were seeing.There's a bunch of soap on the ground, bars of soap and masks, earplugs.I see an American flag, gloves.
Oh, look, there's some Christmas decorations.Oh, it's getting hot.Heat rises.Yeah, it's definitely getting stuffy.
So right now we can see all the way down to the other end of East Block and it's just a bunch of open doors.
This looks like something from a horror movie, you know that long corridor when you're looking down?I just, I can imagine being here at nighttime.Still looks like The Shining.
So there we were in the fifth tier, the inside team, me, the two Tonys, Tafoya into Trinidad, Sadiq, Tom, and our friend San Pablo.And as you know, we were just like looking for clues about what life was like for the people who lived there.
We have a cell that has hearts on it.
The first cell we walked into, the guy who lived in there had drawn all these kind of cartoon versions of things on the cell wall.Like there was lots of red, that's what I remember, and polka dots.
that's a bikini okay so there's some graffiti hearts maybe a bikini oh there are hearts everywhere oh yeah all the hearts where the lenses would be on the glasses it just looks like the guy was trying to liven up his life it looks like this guy was a happy guy or he was a clown
I'm going to step into this cell.
This one has, the sound is really different, this one has 1, 2, 3, 4, about 8 to 10 pin-up kind of pictures of women.And then on the wall in here, some kind of graffiti or something.
What is that?The phone?Wow, look at the phone.
The phone is on this, like, triangular stand.Okay.And it's, like, basically portable.It's got wheels and stuff and a long-ass extension cord on it so that it can be passed down a tier.
So this is really interesting, Erlon.You know in all of the housing units in San Quentin, you know when you come in there's that line of payphones?
Exactly.So people can make their calls, but at death row, guys can't leave their cells and when they do they're in shackles, so there's no way they're getting on a payphone.So instead, the phone comes to their cell.
So, whoa, here we go.Look at this cell right here.It has a funny smell in there too as well.So we have like some mold in the sink.Nigel, you see that?Look at that.
Oh yeah.Okay.This filth really offended Sadiq.Yeah.I mean, you know how he's, well, most guys inside are super clean.Sadiq is particularly fastidious.He was really like, I think kind of grossed out by how dirty some of the cells were.
Yeah.I mean, I can imagine some people might just don't give a shit and they might like, man, fuck this place.
The sink is full of moldy cardboard or paper.The toilet is full of a white powder.So these guys are in here 24-7, right?
Yeah, so you can imagine, this guy was actually living filthy because there wouldn't be so much grime and stuff on the floor.So this was a filthy guy here.Look at this.An old toothbrush.This cell looks pretty gnarly.
Clearly these cells were upsetting.And, you know, imagine people living in there for decades.It's really horrible.But I don't think we were taking in how it was affecting us.
You know, we were just kind of like looking around and going, oh my God, look at this, look at this.And as a group, we were in this, I don't know what to call it, kind of like this discovery mode.
Gotcha.It's an old, half a dictionary.
It's a dictionary. Half, you're right, it's just half a dictionary.Goes to, oh.
Oh, look it, a little picture.
A picture of Latin army men holding the American flag, oh.
Picture of, is it Iwo Jima or something?
Yeah, when they're lifting up the American flag and how it's slanted like 45 degrees.
And we have like little hooks on the wall.
It looked like sorry pieces.
So just imagine a piece to the sorry, the board game, normally.
We have a guy that left us a letter.
All right, let's go find the letter.
So a guy left us a letter.Let's go find this letter.
Sadiq, Tom and I had been in this one cell when Tony came back all excited because he had found a letter that was left in this like cell up ahead of us.So he wanted us to all come and see it like immediately.
A letter to East Block.All right, is this the letter?Where's the letter?
So he's leaving a message.He thinks someone else is going to move in here with all the stuff that he left in here.Over here, he's like, I stocked up 50 TPs, toilet papers, 50 soaps.I was the TP guy.I don't want the TP.
Let the CEOs use the TP supply here.So he's trying to pass on whoever moves in here.
to be the next TP guy.Okay, so this one right here too as well.So he has an actual, first it says, I'm TP guy.In case you see Axi Arena, he stocked 50 toilet papers and 50 soaps.That's too much.
Erlon, it was interesting as we were spending more time in the cells and really digging into what people had left behind, I would like to think that the people in there were becoming more present for us.
Like we were sort of guessing at their habits and how they tried to make a life there.I have no idea why that guy had so much toilet paper.I mean, what do you think?
That's a few things.You know, a lot of people stack up on toilet paper just to have it.Maybe people that go by can grab a toilet paper from them when they're handcuffed or
Yeah, tricky handoff there.
No, it's just, you know, they got gay.
Hmm.Okay.Well, I don't know if we'll ever know exactly who the TP man was.The TP man.Yeah.But he took his job seriously.
Then he has a calendar of what's for breakfast.It says scrambled eggs, hum.And then on Friday it said eggs and cheese, yum.So he had a whole list of what was going on throughout his week.
What do you think he was doing on his bunk?
Because it's covered with... It looks so rusted, though.
It's got all kinds of weird, like, gloppy stuff on it.
It has gloppy stuff on the wall as well, like a lot of grime or something.
That opens up a whole nother door.If the pain is scraped off his bunk and it's down to the meadow, he utilized those TPs as a fire.So the fire would go under the bunk and it would heat up the bottom of the bunk and then you would cook on the top.
And that's what the TP was for.You would turn the bunk that you sleep on into a grill and you could just roll your mattress back and heat that area up and get your cook on.
Okay, that makes sense. You know, like when you open up a container and there's that little safety foil thing?You know, like say, have you ever opened up like vitamins?Yeah.
So he had taken whatever he had opened up, whether it was mustard, mayonnaise, vitamins, he had taken that foil and put it on his wall.So his wall was just covered with these silver, like, you know, these circular foil pieces.
It was like he was creating an art installation in there.You know, I thought it was kind of cool. So they're put on the wall like a modern art piece or something.Like he was slowly trying to cover the wall with these parts.
And there's a birthday card that someone left him.
And it's from these two people named, I guess his name was Herbert. and their names were Andrea and Rachel.And they say, hello Herbert, we're very upset that we still have not heard from you.
We would like to form a relationship through letters with each of you gentlemen.Do you think you could find a time to drop us a line?Happy birthday on October 13th from your Cal coordinators, Andrea and Rachel and everyone at Lifelines.
We send you many good wishes.
Sounds like he didn't want to write back.
Do you think it's interesting that the guy in Death Row did not want to write back to these people?
Herbert probably wasn't into writing people.Herbert probably was shut off from the world, you know, on any type of interaction with people or any type of, you know, writing.Writing is a skill set and some people get tired of it.
And maybe Herbert just didn't like who was writing him.Interesting.Yeah, he could have just checked out on that type of stuff, you know.Yeah.
Whoa, whoa, this guy said I have contagious skin.
So we walked by this one cell, and it was really dirty.I mean, the dirtiest.You want to step in here?Yeah.
Oh, whoa.This is mold everywhere.
Oh wow, so this says, there's something on the wall that says, CO, I have contagious skin disease.You may see below some of my medicine for it.
PS, I have a chrono for extra laundry, extra art supplies, American Indian things, extra mattress, an ace bandage, a urinal, and cane.
Wow.So the toilet, Erlon, you know, like where the stuff goes down, it was almost closed up because it was just, it was caked with mold.
I can see why he have a skin disease.
The toilet is, how would you describe that?
Molded with green, blue, white, brown mold.Look at the sink.This is horrible.How can somebody live like this?
Either he couldn't smell, or he was using it as a tactical thing with the police.You know, so if he never cleans his toilet, then they're going to be like, man, your cell stinks.I ain't going in there.
Could that also be the skin disease?He's like, I have a contagious skin disease.
Anything, just to keep him out of his cell.
OK.He's got a few spices left.
A few spices, ginger left.
What's weird to me, Sadiq, is I don't get any sense of anybody.You don't really feel.
I don't feel a bad vibe or anything.No.
I don't feel a good vibe, a bad vibe.It just seems a little oddly neutral.
So we have a running toilet.
What was it running into, damn it?
Why did you get out of there bad?You can hear in our voices, it's obviously a sad place, but we're giddy, we're excited, we're running around.And I mean, aren't you surprised we weren't more somber about it?
Nah, I mean, you know, it's an empty building.
I know, but it's death row.I don't think we recognize the gravity of where we were.It was like this teenage spirit had just taken over and we were kind of running wild.
We want everybody to see this, especially Sadiq.
Okay, sorry.So at this point, there's a turn in what's grabbing everyone's interest.
We just had a good little laugh. All right, let's see who we got.What tier is it on?Right here.On the second tier?Yeah.Let's go really fast.
All right, so we're in the tier office.
In the tier office.Let's step in here.Everybody step in if you can.I know it's a little tight.Trinidad's the one that found this.Trinidad.
This was an office where the COs sit.And Erlon, it was like the size of a broom closet.You know, no windows, very dingy.I couldn't imagine that being my workplace every day.And it was the only place that actually hadn't been cleared out.
There were still like the desk and chairs and a ton of paperwork everywhere.And there was also some writing on the wall, which included a pretty offensive joke that I'm not gonna tell here.
Joke implies laughing.Why can't I laugh right now?
I'm going to have to tell you off mic, okay?And there was also this one little line written on the wall.
Another sign that says, make death row great again.Yes.
Wow.All right, let's start working our way down.
We got like 10 minutes left, maybe?No minutes left.Okay, we got no minutes left.I wish I had more time with you guys.I was trying to get you an escort.Okay, let's work our way down.Yeah, okay.
Thank you, Lieutenant Barry.Yes, thank you.We are leaving East Block.
So now we're walking back out.We're leaving it.I thought there would be like some kind of spiritual thing.
It would go away.I feel it when I was walking through, but I didn't feel any of that.Like you would take a big breath.Yeah, it was just like a regular building.Yeah, it really was.
And now we're back in reality.Okay.
Okay, so we just left East Block.We're trying to make it down to the Media Lab and of course an alarm went off. Okay, so, Erlon, yard down alarm.And as you know, this happens all the time at San Quentin.
But it really snapped us back into the reality of being back to a part of the prison we were familiar with.And so, of course, we all had to sit down and wait for it to pass.
Notch, you did not have to sit down.
No, you're right.I didn't sit down.But when an alarm goes off, all the incarcerated people have to sit down.I mean, wherever they are.
I mean, because, you know, they got to know who's who, you know, who's incarcerated, who's not.
Yep.Anyway, so the alarm finally stops and we all get up and start walking back to the media lab.And you know, San Quentin, we are running into all of the people that we know.
Hey, you know I'm out of here soon, right?I had heard.Next week.Next week?Yeah.Next, yeah.Where are you going to go?Oakland Dream Center.Okay.You know what I'm saying?You know the Belizean bridge, you know what I'm saying?
Go to Oakland Dream Center, you know what I'm saying?Stop your accent.You know that's fake Belize.Come on.Everybody know that though.Belizean rocks.
So after we saw our friend... With the stolen accent?Exactly.There was Hanook playing violin.
Play us a ditty.We just went to East Block.
I would have expected this music to be playing when y'all walked into East Block.
When we finally got to the Media Lab, we sat down and did a little debrief about our experience.
So we just got back from East Block.We left here about quarter to eight.I'm just so curious what everyone's reaction was.
So when I first walked into East Block, I still had like a lot of little anxiety and anticipation, but as soon as I walked in, it just left.Like the feeling that I thought I was going to get, the feeling was gone. The vibes was different.
It wasn't like it was spooky or it felt haunted or none of that.
Yeah, like everyone, my expectations were so high.And it's just the word I come away with is neutral.But why are we disappointed by that?
Because... I think it's like that big house on the corner of your street that you want to see what's inside and you finally see what's inside.It's not really as scary as it looked growing up.That's the type of feeling that I had when I went in there.
So we were all looking for some kind of thrill, right?
Yeah.Which is curious.To me, the most interesting part was when occasionally one of the cells still had stuff on the wall left behind by somebody, like a little note.
Do you remember the one cell that had all those little silver foil pill bottles?Yeah, that you touched for some reason.The one you touched was actually a tuna fish container wrapper.
Good.Did you run them through flame?Because what do you think it's sticking on the wall with?
Not the worst case scenario.But that's like saliva.You got to think about somebody who never cleans.
Some people just, I guess they decided like my life is over.So why clean?I don't need to clean anything.I'm dying anyway.And to live like that, it's like, what am I living for?So that's what I got out of it.It's no point of me cleaning.
So to see a lot and to hear a lot.
But also, those guys didn't get to leave there, right?They're in that building.
All day long.Confined, super confined.Confined and detached from reality.
I think the thing is what we've all been talking about, that you have all these expectations and it's your imagination that animates a place.And when it's just a place, it's, yeah.
So when I think about going up to East Block, I kept thinking, well, why am I so excited?Why am I so giddy about going to a place that's full of pain?It's because it was an adventure that we could share.And that's, to me, is really neat.
Yeah, we did it together and the anticipation, everything was there and we all felt it at the same time.
So I think that's why it actually was more meaningful when we went as a team, you know, instead of one person going, we all was able to, we was like saying each other words and everything because we all wanted to know what was going on in East Block, you know, that experience.
But before we go any further, I think there is something we need to acknowledge.I think it's somebody's birthday today. Oh, it's TDT's birthday.I believe it is somebody's birthday and we need to sing happy birthday.
Yep.Which one are we doing?
The original one.Okay.All right.Happy birthday to you.Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, dear Tony.Happy birthday to you.
And we gave you the beautiful present today of taking you to Eastside.
So you was able to get your package on your birthday.
This was a really sweet ending to the adventure that we had just shared together.But Erlon, over the next few days, something about the way we reacted to Death Row was really gnawing at me, like really keeping me up at night.
I wanted to talk to somebody who might see things differently, you know, and sort of get their take on it.
So after the break, Erlon, there's one more person I want you to hear.
Hey, listeners, Amy and Bruce here from the Ear Hustle team with some pretty cool Radiotopia news.
That's right.For over 15 years, our friend and fellow Radiotopian, Nate DiMaio, has been telling incredible stories about the past on his podcast, The Memory Palace, which is such a beautiful thing.I listened from the beginning.
It's just like perfect gems of stories.They're short, they're amazingly well-written, and they're like surprising, true moments that you would never believe happened.
I also have been listening to this show since the beginning, and it was one of the first shows that had such a strong voice to it.
It was unlike anything else.
And now, Nate is releasing his first book.It's called The Memory Palace, True Short Stories of the Past.
The book collects beloved stories from the show, news stories, photographs, and gorgeous illustrations.It's available for presale now, wherever you buy your books, or you can find it at radiotopia.fm.
With the holidays coming up, this is a perfect gift.It's called The Memory Palace, true short stories of the past.Hey, congratulations, Nate.
I'm going to go get my copy right now.
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I kept asking myself, where are you guys at?What cell are you referring to?The one with the butterflies and the heart?Yeah.I'm trying to rack my brain, trying to figure out who the heck that was.
Do you recognize this guy's voice?
Yeah, that's the old boy from the episode we just did about books.And his name?Shaka.
Exactly.So he had actually lived on death row and listeners might remember he's the guy that talked about how some people he felt actually had to be in prison, should be in prison.
Yeah, I definitely remember that.
And the reason I wanted to bring him down was that, you know, after listening to the tape of me and the guys walking around East Block, there was just something about the tone of the tour that didn't sit right with me.
And so I asked Shaka if he would come in and talk about it with us.
91 to 23, I lived in the same cell.
I hear that and it just chills me.Like, I can't. I don't have words to express how, like trying to understand that.
And so to think about how I feel now sitting across from you, looking at you and thinking, how did this man live like that for 30 years?It's like we're in two different universes.
We brought Shaka down to the Media Lab and we actually played the episode for him, the recording of us going into death row and our reactions to it.And watching him listen to the episode, he was so intense, like he was so present.
His face, his body language.And I was a little bit nervous about what he was going to hear and I was really worried he was going to find it disrespectful. Are you glad that you heard that?Do you wish you didn't hear us up there?
I'm glad that you guys took the time to go through there.You know, that officer that said MacDuff wrote great again, that was a jerk.He wanted executions to start back up.
That's the only way he could have met that.Now that had me trying to remember all the jerks that worked at East Block.And I knew a few of them.
But if you didn't go through there, that would've been sad that what happened on Death Row was yesterday news.And it's not.I can't forget some of the things that I saw.Can't forget some of the things that I heard or seen while I was on Death Row.
Now, I'm imagining how different it would have been to go to East Block with you and see it through your eyes.I doubt we would have been laughing very much.Maybe some laughs.
Well, but see, that's all sad.You laugh to keep from crying.That's true.You make jokes to be able to break a little humor to upset a bad situation. It was some bad times.It was some sad moments.But we laugh.You know what I mean?
There's an old saying, laugh to keep from crying.We laugh at each other.Or should I say, we laugh with each other, not at each other.It was your way of coming to reality that we live every day.
The fact that you guys was curious enough to go through there and try to figure out what we was dealing with says a lot about you.You guys wanted to know.
I appreciate what you're saying, but I do think it was because we were together as a group, and none of us had ever been there before, and it was like a bonding experience.But there's just so much laughing.
Every time I hear it, I feel uncomfortable with it.
But see, that was you guys' way of dealing with the stress.
And I don't think bad of you at all for doing it.And I lived there. Well, if you had taken us there, what would you have showed us?What would you want us to know?Obviously, I would have showed you the cell.
If we had the right of the place, I would have showed you the yard that I was on every day for over 30 years. The cell that my homeboy hung himself in, I would have had to show you that.
Okay, it's a little bit hard to hear what he's saying, but he's saying he would have showed us the cell where his friend hung himself.
Reaper was like a brother to me.I loved him. When they brought my whole boy out, I got up and walked to the bars and looked out, and I see death on his face.And I saw that for weeks afterward, still seeing that to this day.
That was the last time that I got up and watched if they removed somebody off the chair, the last time. The cold part is that all he had to do was stand up.So his will to die was strong.All he had to do was stand up.
Erling, can you understand what he's saying?
It's grim to have to repeat it, but basically saying, I think I had to do with stand up.
Right, because the bunk isn't that tall.
So he really had a... He had a will.
Now that kind of got to me, how bad that he wanted this, because if he straightened his feet out, he was standing up.To do that is hard to get your mind around.Yes, it is.So that's what I would have told you about.
I mean, now sitting here and I just have to describe this because this is audio.So you're sitting back in a chair.You actually look pretty relaxed now.It's more like you're sitting in a car and you're looking at me in a three quarter view.
You have a very nice profile.And I feel like we really missed an opportunity by not being able to be there with you. Because now the way you're talking about it, I'm having a different experience of what it was like there.
It would have been a boy in debt story because you would have had firsthand knowledge.
So I feel very mixed about us putting this part out about us up in East Block. we're gonna do it?You got to.But it just sounds so, it sounds so, every time I hear it I cringe a little bit.
But that's because you care.See, if you were just trying to make a story, you wouldn't care.You know, you care about what you're doing.And that's obvious.
So you don't think we're doing a disservice to your experience?
It's not, it's not, I never, I never felt discarded or disrespected.Listen to that.
Okay.Okay.Well, I appreciate that.And I think you would tell me if you did.
I have a strong opinion, and if I felt that you were disrespected, me or somebody else, I wouldn't have told you.
So at this point, a couple guys from the inside team had joined me, and Sadiq had a question for Shaka.
So how would you feel going back in Condemn Row, knowing that it's empty now?Like, what effect do you think it'll have on you?Well, I already been back.Oh, you've been back?
I'm not really sure of the circumstances of this, but somehow Shaka was able to go back and see his old cell, and he actually went inside and sat down.
I walked back up to the cell that I was housed in.When I walked to this cell, I made a port to push the door all the way open, so could nobody come along to close the door on me.
That was something new, because every time you walk in a cell, first thing you hear was a click.Door shut, and they locked the door.Although I didn't think they would do that, but it's just the freedom that I had while I was able to do that.
It was not a sad moment. You know, it was like, okay.When I walk out of the cell, I never come back into the cell.Death row is behind me.As I walked down the steps, those steps that you guys talked about was clean.
I knew that I had left that part of my life behind me.And when I walked out the door, I said, good riddance.
So Erlon, that's my mystery episode for the season.And now you're up.So your mystery episode drops in a couple weeks and I can't wait.
I may have snuck you in in the beginning.What?Yeah, I may have snuck you in in the beginning.See?
I can't wait.You gotta watch me with a mic.You never know.Can't wait for you to hear it.
My name is Adam Brown.I am a day one fan of Ear Hustle, and I'm a professor of social work at the Silberman School for Social Work at Hunter College in New York City.And now going to get coffee with Nigel.
Ear Hustle is produced by Nigel Poore, Erlon Woods, Amy Standen, Bruce Wallace, Rahsaan New York-Thomas, and Kat Schucknigt.Shubnam Sigmund is the managing producer.
The producing team inside San Quentin includes Darrell Sadiq Davis, Tony DeTrinidad, and Tom Nguyen.The inside managing producer is Tony Tafoya.Thanks also to Aristeo San Pablo.
Thanks to acting warden Andes at San Quentin and acting warden Parker and Lieutenant Newborg at the California Institution for Women for their support of the show.Thanks also to this woman here.
I am Lieutenant Giammare Berry, the public information officer at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, and I approve this episode.
This episode was made possible by the Just Trust, building a smaller, more humane engine of justice and safety across the country.
Thanks to Rashid Zinderman for introducing us to Shaka.
Erlon Woods sound designs and engineers the show with help from Fernando Arruda, Harry Culhane, and Darrell Sadiq Davis.
Music for this episode comes from Darrell Sadiq Davis, Tom Wynn, Antoine Williams, and me.
For more information about the episode, you can check out the show notes on Ear Hustle's website, EarHustleSQ.com.And I want to add, while you're at the website, there's more to check out there.Yes.Like the new curriculum.
We've got this great curriculum.
Free.So if you're a teacher, if you're the education world, please check out our curriculum and let us know what you think.
It'll save you a gang of time in your classroom, because it's comprehensible, it's deep, and your students will get a lot out of it.Absolutely.
And, if you want to keep up with all things Ear Hustle, you know, where Nigel shops at, you know what I'm saying, where I get my lunch, you know, if you want to just stay up on what Ear Hustle do, please sign up for our monthly email newsletter, The Lowdown.
And you'll find that at EarHustleSQ.com slash newsletter.
You can find us on social media, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at EarHustleSQ.
And there's actually some new stuff happening on YouTube soon.
Oh, yeah.You know, we're going to have some EarHustle shorts coming soon.Not shorts that you wear.Short video.You can definitely find that at EarHustleSQ.
And if you're not already, follow and review Ear Hustle on any of your favorite podcast platforms, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the iHeartRadio app.
Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, creator-owned, listener-supported podcasts.
Discover audio with vision at radiotopia.fm.
And Erlon, thanks for being here for two episodes.
Yeah.Yeah.You did that.You did that, Nigel.
