Mission

Uncuffed empowers people in prison to tell their own stories.

In our training programs, participants express their humanity, develop job skills, and inspire change.

Our Work

Uncuffed is the country’s leading radio and podcast training program for people in prisons.

Audio Storytelling

We teach digital audio storytelling in San Quentin and Solano Prisons in California. In weekly classes taught by professional journalists, participants learn how to make an audio story — from the first pitch to the final draft.

Student producers interview other people in prison about their personal stories. Using professional audio equipment, software, and computers we’ve brought inside the prisons, students edit those stories into “audio gems” of 5 to 8 minutes. The stories air on the KALW program Crosscurrents, and can be heard on our website here.

The Uncuffed Podcast

The Uncuffed Podcast is a showcase for personal stories and deep roundtable conversations with the incarcerated Uncuffed producers.

The podcast was featured in the New York Times and as a “New and Noteworthy” show in the Apple Podcast app.

The Uncuffed Playlist

In our Uncuffed Playlist classes at Solano State Prison, students learn how to be radio DJs. They choose an hour of their favorite music and get on the mic to talk about how those songs relate to their lives.

Listen

Re-Entry Stories

Uncuffed works with our alumni on episodes about life after incarceration. We have also led audio workshops for formerly incarcerated participants.

Re-entry stories

Advisory Board

Meet our board

KALW Public Media

Uncuffed is a program of KALW Public Media, an NPR member station rooted in the Bay Area and inspired by the world.

We create and curate programming that is informative, innovative, inclusive, and entertaining. We nurture new and underrepresented voices. Our goal is to engage the individual and strengthen the connections between us.

Uncuffed is presented on Crosscurrents, KALW’s flagship news magazine hosted by Hana Baba. Crosscurrents airs Mondays - Thursdays at 11am on 91.7FM and streaming on KALW.org.

KALW is a 501(c)3 community-supported media organization.
‍Learn more about KALW

Our Story

Uncuffed has taught storytellers in California prisons for over a decade.

2012
Journalists from KALW and the podcast Life of the Law begin teaching radio workshops at San Quentin Prison. We buy audio equipment, computers, and editing software to the prison and help incarcerated journalists create stories that air on KALW 91.7 fm.
2015
We help found the San Quentin chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists – a first in the U.S.
2017
Earlonne Woods and Antwan Banks, former participants in our program, create the podcast Ear Hustle along with artist Nigel Poor.
2018
We begin weekly classes at San Quentin, and expand to Solano State Prison, with funding from the California Arts Council.
2019
We launch the Uncuffed podcast, reaching national and international audiences.
2020
Uncuffed coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons is broadcast nationally.
2022
Uncuffed alumni and staff attend the first international prison radio conference in Oslo. Our group includes three newly released graduates of the Uncuffed program. In Norway, we tour prisons famous for their rehabilitative approach. Our alumni report back on the podcast about what seems to be working, and what isn’t, in Norwegian prisons. As California aims to reshape its prisons after Scandinavia’s example, Uncuffed alumni who visited Norway are quoted in international media.
2023
We launched our radio DJ program at Solano State Prison, and the Uncuffed Playlist, California’s first music show hosted by incarcerated people and broadcast on public airwaves.
2024 & beyond
Uncuffed plans to bring our training program to incarcerated women, expand opportunities for formerly incarcerated people in the media, and bring more system-impacted leaders onto our own team.

"Uncuffed is like a golden conduit. It allows us to release emotions that have been pent up for years."

Nathan McKinney

former participant at San Quentin State Prison

Press

“A moving new show” – The New York Times

“Residents are drawing mainstream audiences and shifting narratives about life behind bars.” – The Guardian

“‘Uncuffed’ is a prison podcast for our time… It’s more important than ever to give incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people control over the discourse”
- 48 Hills

Awards

Our many awards include:

Public Media Journalism Awards - Best Interview Podcast (2024)
Media for a Just Society Award Finalist (2024)
Solutions Journalism Network Honorable Mention (2024)
New York Festival Radio Award Shortlist (2024)
Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service in Radio Journalism (2023)
Media for a Just Society Award Finalist (2023)
Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California (2023)
Public Media Journalism Awards: Best Interview Podcast (2022)
Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California (2021)
Third Coast Awards Best Documentary Finalist (2021)
San Francisco Press Club Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards (2020)
San Francisco Press Club Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards (2019)

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Partners

Uncuffed is a project of KALW Public Media and a proud founding member of Prison Radio International. We are members of Transformative Programming Works, a coalition of rehabilitative programs in prisons. We also partner with the Pollen Initiative (formerly Friends of San Quentin News) and Community Works West.

Uncuffed supporters include Arts In Corrections, the California Department of Corrections Division of Rehabilitative Programs, the Unlikely Collaborators Foundation, Reentry Through the Arts, and many individual donors.

Support our work!