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In this inaugural season follow the journeys of two ex-offenders, Keron and Kia, from their troubled pasts to their entrepreneurial aspirations and plans, they are taking control of their lives,...
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In this inaugural season follow the journeys of two ex-offenders, Keron and Kia, from their troubled pasts to their entrepreneurial aspirations and plans, they are taking control of their lives, and as they hustle to create a new future you’ll be inspired by their grit, passion, and perseverance to succeed. We'll also look inside the lives of other ex-offenders who have become successful entrepreneurs and the organizations that are available to help those who know their future lies ahead, not behind. Join me, Lisa Reilly, for a groundbreaking, episodic podcast series where the belief that failure isn't final has never been truer.
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12 SET 2026 · A second chance only matters when someone is standing there ready to help you believe your life can actually be different. Ron Waddell, co-founder of Legendary Legacies in Worcester, Massachusetts, knows firsthand how easily a young person can fall through the cracks. After losing his mother at 15, experiencing homelessness and navigating instability without many of the supports young people need, Ron eventually found his own path, and a calling to make sure other young men wouldn't have to find theirs alone. Founded in 2018, Legendary Legacies works with men affected by gangs, violence and incarceration through intensive life coaching, mentorship, workforce development and a deeply relational approach that meets people where they are. With many staff members bringing their own lived experience to the work, the organization is creating something bigger than a program: a community built around brotherhood, accountability, purpose and opportunity. Because sometimes changing a life isn't about erasing someone's past. It's about helping them build a different future, and a legacy for the generations that follow.
12 SET 2026 · Twenty years, that's the sentence she received for refusing to take a plea deal. Now Elizabeth Mercedes Hernandez, a former nurse practitioner, a mother of five and a healthcare professional with no prior criminal record is serving in a Florida federal prison after being convicted of committing healthcare and wire fraud. In this episode, her mother, Esther Pino, and sister, Eve Hernandez, say the government got her story wrong. Elizabeth's journey from working in the rapidly expanding world of telemedicine to discovering what the prosecutors, at her trial, say was the misuse of her medical credentials and NPI number. Despite cooperating with investigators, refusing a plea agreement and ultimately taking her case to trial, Elizabeth lost her freedom. Esther and Eve share their continuing fight for Elizabeth's freedom and their larger effort to bring attention to healthcare practitioners they believe have been unjustly prosecuted. This is a story about one family's unwavering belief in Elizabeth's innocence, and the questions her case has left them asking about truth, justice and the power of the federal criminal justice system.
8 SET 2026 · Rikers Island has been synonymous with violence, dysfunction and controversy for decades. But as New York City moves toward closing one of America's most infamous jail complexes, former NYC Correction Officer and union leader Elias Husamudeen believes there's another option: reinvent it. After 34 years working inside the New York City correction system, Elias brings a perspective shaped by firsthand experience. His ambitious Rikers Reset proposal would dramatically reduce the island's jail footprint while creating space for education, transitional housing, mental health and medical care, rehabilitation and other resources designed to address what happens both during incarceration and after release. Elias offers his insight about what Rikers is really like behind the headlines, why previous reform efforts have struggled, the enormous cost of closing and rebuilding New York City's jail system, and why he believes rehabilitation, not simply new buildings is the key to reducing recidivism. Is it time to close Rikers Island, or is it time to completely reimagine what it could become?
15 AGO 2026 · For decades, the conversation around corrections has largely centered on two models: government-run facilities which operate 92% of prisons, and private prisons, which own and run the other 8%. But what if there was another option? Creating a third model is Brian Koehn, (pronounced Kane), Founder and CEO of Social Purpose Corrections, the nation's first nonprofit corrections organization and the third leg in the proverbial correction stool. After more than three decades leading prisons across the country, Koehn walked away from a successful career with one question he couldn't ignore: 'After All It is Called Corrections', which then asks the question, 'If we call it corrections, are we actually correcting anything?' Brian's understanding and experience brings to light information that is not readily discussed such as the culture inside American corrections, the challenges facing correctional officers, why leadership matters, and whether a nonprofit, outcomes-based model, like SPC could reshape how correctional systems operate. From staff retention and rehabilitation to innovation and accountability, this conversation challenges long-held assumptions about what corrections are and what it could become. Whether you agree with Brian's vision or not, this episode asks an important question: How do we create safer facilities, stronger leadership, and better outcomes for everyone involved?
28 LUG 2026 · The truth surfaced years before justice finally prevailed, but for Dusty Turner, freedom wasn't the end of the story. After spending 31 years in prison for a crime he maintains he did not commit, Dusty has chosen a path unlike many wrongly convicted people. Rather than quietly rebuilding his life, he's stepped into the public eye through documentaries, podcasts, interviews, and a massive, daily, social media campaign, run by his team of advocates and posted under the @freedustyturner handle. In Dusty's own words, sunlight is the greatest disinfectant, and that mantra helps him fight for his own exoneration, every single day. In this candid conversation, Dusty reflects on surviving decades behind bars, the emotional toll of knowing he was innocent, now living each day under electronic monitoring, and why he believes sharing his story publicly is part of his life's purpose. He also discusses his new mission to advocate for justice-involved veterans and help others who may have been wrongfully convicted. Dusty's story isn't just about freedom. It's about perseverance, purpose, and the belief that the truth deserves to be heard, even when justice takes decades to catch up.
19 LUG 2026 · America's prisons were built for punishment, not to become nursing homes. Across the United States, thousands of incarcerated men and women are growing old behind bars, facing chronic illness, declining health, and the possibility that prison will also become the place where they die. This week we speak with Emmy Award-winning journalist and attorney Cherri Gregg and investigative journalist Yvonne Latty, co-creators of the powerful NEW podcast series Dying on the Inside: Women Lifers at Muncy Prison. Together they discuss what they discovered inside Pennsylvania's oldest women's prison, the women serving life sentences, the emotional toll of reporting these stories, and the larger questions surrounding redemption, aging, justice, and compassion. They also explore Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1400 and why the conversation about elderly incarcerated people is becoming one of the most urgent issues facing corrections today. Sometimes the hardest stories to tell are the ones that ask us to reconsider what justice looks like decades after a sentence begins.
19 LUG 2026 · You don't have to be incarcerated for this conversation to matter. We all have had a yesterday experience that shaped us, wounds that followed us, and patterns we sometimes don't even realize we're repeating. This week we conclude our first-ever trilogy with a most meaningful yet simple lesson. Over the past few episodes, we introduced you to Oregon's Transformative Justice Community, their innovative programs at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, and the volunteer-run CREW Safe Rides program that helps women return home safely after release from prison. Now we turn to what may be the foundation for lasting change. Educator and Transformative Justice Community co-founder Taryn VanderPyl, along with healing curriculum developer Tressa Jumps share a new trauma-informed healing curriculum created specifically for incarcerated women. Together, they explore why lasting transformation begins long before release, how unresolved childhood trauma often shapes adult choices, the difference between healing and simply serving a sentence and why understanding what happened to someone can be just as important as understanding what they did. Because it just may be that healing is one of the most powerful forms of rehabilitation.
3 LUG 2026 · In this episode we return to Oregon to continue the story of CREW (Connecting Resources to Empower Women) and meet Client Services Specialist Kyle Black. Once incarcerated herself for almost three decades at Coffee Creek Correctional, Kyle now spends her days driving newly released women, from the same prison, to probation appointments, safe housing, treatment programs, and the first chapter of a new life. But these aren't simply rides, they are conversations filled with fear, hope, shame, courage, grief, and possibility. Kyle speaks candidly about the tragic events that led to her incarceration, the decades she spent in prison, rebuilding a relationship with her daughter, and why every woman deserves to leave prison knowing someone believes in her future. Because sometimes the shortest journey becomes the one that changes everything.
3 LUG 2026 · In the annals of American history there is one speech delivered in 1852, by a former slave, that stood at the precipice of what today, we call social justice. This week on The Hustler Files Dr. LaToya Bosworth of Mass Humanities explores the enduring legacy of Frederick Douglass and the Massachusetts statewide initiative, Reading Frederick Douglass Together. His speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" still resonates around the world, and each year in Massachusetts, from public parks to correctional facilities, communities gather to read Douglass's powerful words aloud, discovering that his message about freedom, justice, humanity, and hope, the building blocks of social justice, remains as relevant today as ever. In honor of America's 250th Anniversary, Dr. Bosworth discuss storytelling, historical memory, invisible barriers, community healing, and why understanding our shared past may be one of the most important ways to shape our future. Because some stories aren't just history, they're still changing lives.
21 GIU 2026 · What happens when one mistake follows you for the rest of your life? Dr. Sheena Meade, CEO of the Clean Slate Initiative, calls it 'invisible cages' and for her it was 2004 and an $87 bounced check that led to her arrest. Despite making restitution, that arrest still appears on her record, today, and has created a lifelong lesson about second chances, collateral consequences, and turning her pain into purpose. These barriers are not lost on Sheena as there are millions of Americans still in invisible cages, even long after they've paid their debt to society. It was Sheena's personal journey that led her to becoming one of the nation's leading voices for automatic record clearance, criminal justice reform, the importance of owning your narrative, and how it is possible to emerge from life's most difficult moments. This is a conversation about resilience, redemption, freedom, and what it truly means to live your legacy out loud.
In this inaugural season follow the journeys of two ex-offenders, Keron and Kia, from their troubled pasts to their entrepreneurial aspirations and plans, they are taking control of their lives,...
mostra di più
In this inaugural season follow the journeys of two ex-offenders, Keron and Kia, from their troubled pasts to their entrepreneurial aspirations and plans, they are taking control of their lives, and as they hustle to create a new future you’ll be inspired by their grit, passion, and perseverance to succeed. We'll also look inside the lives of other ex-offenders who have become successful entrepreneurs and the organizations that are available to help those who know their future lies ahead, not behind. Join me, Lisa Reilly, for a groundbreaking, episodic podcast series where the belief that failure isn't final has never been truer.
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Informazioni
| Autore | Lisa Reilly |
| Organizzazione | Lisa Reilly |
| Categorie | Cultura e società |
| Sito | - |
| - |
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