Revisiting “12 Hours on the Yard”

Ear Hustle

Ear Hustle & Radiotopia

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.9 • 21.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2025

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cat Schuknecht, Ear Hustle’s Senior Producer at the California Institution for Women, listens back to our 2023 episode “12 Hours on the Yard.” Inspired by the classic This American Life episode “24 Hours at the Golden Apple,” the Ear Hustle team documents one day in the life of San Quentin’s lower yard, from Haka dancing to dominoes; gospel to geese; and weight-lifting to waiting to get out.

Thanks to everyone we spoke to while we were on the yard: Gerry Sanchez-Muritalla, Travis George, Miguel Alvarez, Louis Sale, James Names, Doc, Martin Zahorik, Arthur Jackson, Clark, Bryan Head, Rusiate Waqa, Situe Toluao, Arent D.J. Bradt, Trevor Woods, Reginald Thorpe, Don Peise, Russell Salgado, Jose Hernandez, Fernando Vasquez, Fred Catano, Larry Deminter, Steve Joe Martinez, Isaiah Jones, Daniel Hill, Chris Fuimaono, Daniel Le, Spencer Jonmark, Ralph Arreguin, Ezekiel Gonzalez, George Coles El, Corey J Smith, Robert Cole, William Hayes, Tyler Motherwell, Robert Chase, Jonathan Huynh, Chad Miller, Steven McKnight, Taiosisi Matangi, Navion Starks, Chris Marshall, Glenn Wilson, Ben Davis. Joseph Thompson, James Swindo, Kevin Brickman, Nelson Vega, Ken Sargent, Gabby Rigmaden, James Duff, Joe Tyes, Mike Antrobus, Tyler Cooper, Dennis Rogers, Armando Raymayor, Alfredo Hayes, Stanley Tillman, and Officer Acevedo.

This episode was scored with music by Derrell Sadiq Davis, Rhashiyd Zinnamon, Fernando Arruda, and Earlonne Woods.

Big thanks to Warden Andes and Lt. Berry at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Acting Warden Parker, Associate Warden Lewis, and Lt. Newborg at the California Institution for Women; and Warden De La Cruz and Lt. Williams at the Central California Women’s Facility for their support of the show.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Kat Shook-Nicked. Hello.
0:04.0	Hey, Bruce.
0:05.0	Welcome to the studios at KQED.
0:08.0	Thank you so much. It feels really good to be behind a mic.
0:11.0	Yeah, you seem natural. Seems like a very natural place for you to be.
0:14.0	I'm being human, yes.
0:16.0	That's right. Even though in your role, you aren't one of the people behind the mic that often.
0:23.0	Tell us about your role for those who don't know you.
0:25.1	That's right.
0:25.7	I rarely get behind the mic because I'm spending my time doing a couple different things.
0:29.7	One is producing stories, so helping Nigel and Erlon bring their stories to life.
0:35.1	And the other thing I do is I am helping Ear Hustle launch a storytelling training program at
0:42.7	a women's prison in the L.A. area.
0:46.1	Which is so exciting.
0:47.3	And some listeners will have heard us talk about the California Institution for Women.
0:50.8	That's the one.
0:51.4	And that's where we've been working for a long time to launch this program.
0:58.0	We're recording this on July 3rd. Is there any news you would care to share with us? Oh, just some small news that we're going to have our first class next Thursday. So it's amazing.
1:04.5	It's real. Yeah. It's been a long time coming and we've been scheming and dreaming about it for a long time, so I'm glad it has finally happened, it's happening because of a lot of perseverance and diplomacy and all of the things
1:15.0	on your part.
1:17.3	And that actually does, in a maybe tangential way, not a tangential way, your role does actually
1:24.2	relate to the episode we're going to listen to today before we get into that
	...

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