EARLONNE WOODS left San Quentin state prison a free man in November 2018. He had served 21 years for attempted armed robbery before Jerry Brown, then the governor of California, commuted the rest of his 31-years-to-life sentence. At the time, Mr Woods was one of the most famous incarcerated men in America: “Ear Hustle”, a podcast about prison life which he co-created and co-hosted from San Quentin, has been downloaded more than 30m times. Mr Brown cited the show, which has been running since 2017, as part of the reason for his decision. “I believe Earlonne will continue to educate, enlighten and enrich the lives of his peers at San Quentin and the many, many people who listen faithfully to ‘Ear Hustle’,” he said.

This month, a year since his release, Mr Woods took the stage during the annual Third Coast International Audio Festival in Chicago, and spoke with Jennifer White, a public-radio host, about how the podcast came into being. Nigel Poor, a visual artist and former teacher in San Quentin’s Prison University Project, worked with Mr Woods on stories for prison radio before proposing in 2016 that they make a show about day-to-day life on the inside. Mr Woods had never heard of podcasts, and Ms Poor had never made one.

After listening to some other shows for inspiration, Mr Woods and Ms Poor submitted a teaser to a competition hosted by Radiotopia, a podcast network, which would help create and broadcast the winner. “Ear Hustle”—prison slang for eavesdropping—was one of 1,537 entries. The pitch was “completely original, completely unique”, says Julie Shapiro, the executive director of Radiotopia. “Ear Hustle” won, and the show is now in its fourth season. It airs on closed-circuit TV throughout the California prison system, and in every prison in Britain via the Prison Radio Network. In March music from the programme, composed by prisoners, served as the backdrop for a performance by the New York City Ballet in the halls of the Metropolitan Museum.

Every episode must be approved by San Quentin’s public-information office before being released, which—Mr Woods and Ms Poor acknowledge—restricts the scope of subjects the show can tackle. Another limitation is funding. Some sponsors have proven reluctant to be associated with a prison, and others (bail-bonds services, home-security companies) have been turned down by the show because of their own associations.