The revival of true crime as a cultural genre owes a great deal to podcasts, which deliver tantalizing accounts of controversial and horrific crimes straight to your ear, ready to be consumed during your commute or gym session. Some of them, such as Serial or In the Dark, are feats of investigative reporting, shining a light on big issues in the criminal justice system. Others, like My Favorite Murder, center more around the gruesome details of small town cases of violence and murder, and how those details make the hosts feel. The focus of both types of storytelling is usually on the act itself, or the system’s bungling of its aftermath.
A new podcast shows an entirely different aspect of crime: the details of life after conviction, within prison walls. While no crimes will be solved in its episodes, the novel perspective Ear Hustle offers could be enlightening and fascinating to many a true-crime fan. The show discusses the day-to-day realities that inmates in the US—some…
