112. Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars

An expert on urban economics and co-author of the new book Survival of the City, Ed says cities have faced far worse than Covid. Steve talks with the Harvard professor about why the slums of Mumbai function so well, high-quality housing in China sits empty, and declining cities h ... Show More

Former U.S. Secretary of Education, 3x3 basketball champion, and leader of an anti-gun violence organization are all on Arne’s resume. He’s also Steve’s neighbor. The two talk about teachers caught cheating in Chicago public schools and Steve shares a story he’s never told Arne, ... Show More

A special episode: Steve reports on a passion of his. Most high-school math classes are still preparing students for the Sputnik era. Steve wants to get rid of the “geometry sandwich” and instead have kids learn what they really need in the modern era: data fluency. Originally br ... Show More

After 26 years of crime, Jon ironically found hope in prison and committed his life to helping other returning citizens live at levels that they had never dreamed about. His Hope for Prisoners has had over 4,700 clients and boasts a recidivism rate of only 8%, which is over 8 tim ... Show More

The guys get a one-of-a-kind, uncensored look from the prison’s warden about transitioning from housing many on death row to the rehabilitation prison it is today. Then, hear from an incarcerated man who’s trying to better himself from murderer to mathematician.See omnystudio.com ... Show More

After 26 years of crime, Jon ironically found hope in prison and committed his life to helping other returning citizens live at levels that they had never dreamed about. His Hope for Prisoners has had over 4,700 clients and boasts a recidivism rate of only 8%, which is over 8 tim ... Show More

<p class="p1">My guest today is a man who spent 15 years behind bars trying to figure out how to get out of the destructive patterns and habits he had acquired growing up with violence, gangs, and drugs. And, although not all of us have been convicted and segregated from society, ... Show More

When award-winning author Alex Wheatle was sentenced to nine months in prison at the age of 18, he thought his life was over. Alex had been born in London to Jamaican parents, but grew up in care in the notorious Shirley Oaks children’s home. As a teenager, he was convicted of as ... Show More

For the nearly 20 million Americans with a felony record, punishment doesn’t end after their prison sentence. Sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller sheds light on the aftershocks of mass incarceration through the stories of people who’ve lived it, left it and still have to grapple w ... Show More

Oprah continues her extraordinary interview with wrongly convicted death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton, who shares a remarkable story about an unlikely friendship he formed in prison. He explains how he eventually found his way to freedom through the help of civil rights attorney ... Show More

In 1993, Gary Settle was sentenced to 177 years in prison. Twenty-six years into his sentence, he started helping other inmates get out of prison through something called compassionate release - a policy that allows people in prison to petition to be let out for “extraordinary an ... Show More