Served as Punishment with Ear Hustle & Impact Justice

What happens when someone else decides what goes on your plate every day, for years, and you have almost no power to change it?

Ear Hustle cohosts and cocreators Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods join Dana DiPrima as guest cohosts for a conversation with Impact Justice’s Aishatu Yusuf and Alex Busansky about food in prison, the messages it sends about human worth, and the consequences that follow people home.

Impact Justice’s James Beard Media Award-winning book, Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison, brings a largely hidden food system into view. Together, we explore what their research revealed and how fresh produce, better cooking, and partnerships with farmers can improve life inside.

Nigel also shares her experience following a prison diet for Ear Hustle’s thirty-day challenge, while Earlonne brings his firsthand knowledge of eating and working within the prison food system.

We discuss:

• How food becomes an additional form of punishment.

• What prison meals mean for health, dignity, and life after release.

• What Ear Hustle’s thirty-day challenge revealed about choice and eating.

• How Harvest of the Month, Chefs in Prisons, and growing food inside are creating change.

Explore our guests’ work:

• Ear Hustle: https://www.earhustlesq.com

• Impact Justice and Eating Behind Bars: https://impactjustice.org

Share this episode with someone who hasn’t thought about food in prison. And if you value One Bite is Everything, please leave a five-star rating and a review on Apple Podcasts to help more people find the show.

Hosted by Dana DiPrima. Co-produced by Sonia Dhillon. Sound editing and original music by Russell Chapa.

Eat like it matters. Because it does.