“They actually care. They want to hear about what we think, the ones that they have shut away.”

The Inside Literary Prize is the first major U.S. book award to be judged exclusively by people who are incarcerated, some of the most prolific readers in the country.

Yet the walls we erect around incarcerated people also disappear them from conversations about culture, politics, and history—conversations to which they can make vital contributions.

In this special episode, hear a behind-the-scenes portrait of what a day of judging sounded like in Minnesota’s Shakopee women’s prison.

Full show notes