Transcending prison walls: Prison podcasts, the listening experience, and narrative change

Abstract

Prison stories play an important role in people’s understanding of incarceration with the underlying messages often supporting it as an effective solution for the crime problem. While core elements flow between most types of prison representations, advances in media technology present new ways of constructing these stories, making it easier for those who have experienced incarceration to control the message. Podcasting is one such development. This easily accessible medium is able to present a unique listening experience that has been found to induce empathy, strengthen the connection to the subject, and has the potential to contribute to changes in attitudes. This article compares two incarceration narrative podcasts, Ear Hustle and Red Onion Randy—Life in a Supermax, to demonstrate the potential power of this intimate form of media. Drawing from transportation theory, as well as literature on literary journalism and auditory storytelling, it considers how podcasting can be utilized to create a lived or felt experience for listeners that has the potential to begin to shift popular incarceration narratives.