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Prison’s Secret Santas (2019)

The Uncuffed crew at San Quentin in 2019: Greg Eskridge, Edmond Richardson, Thanh Tran, Chanthon Bun, Nate McKinney, and Tommy "Shakur" Ross
KALW
The Uncuffed crew at San Quentin in 2019: Greg Eskridge, Edmond Richardson, Thanh Tran, Chanthon Bun, Nate McKinney, and Tommy "Shakur" Ross

For people in prison, the holiday season can be a painful time. Many miss their families and traditions. But it’s also a time when people get together with food and acts of kindness. During the holiday season, we thought we'd play you a favorite episode from Uncuffed Season 1, all about the holidays. You’ll hear how the guys at both Solano and San Quentin get through this time of the year.

"It was around Christmas time. I went to the store, and I bought a lot of food, like roast beef and chili beans, and rice ... And I put them in a big brown bag, and I came out on Christmas day, early in the morning, and I said to myself, 'the very first person that walks past me and says, 'Merry Christmas,' I'm gonna give them that bag."
Greg Eskridge

Thanks for listening to Uncuffed in 2022. Stay tuned for more episodes in the New Year! Subscribe to “Uncuffed” in podcast players, get on our email list at WeAreUncuffed.org and follow us on social media @WeAreUncuffed.

Happy holidays.

Learn more, sign up for Uncuffed news, and support the program at www.weareuncuffed.org 

Follow @WeAreUncuffed on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

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Uncuffed From The Producers Of Uncuffed
Uncuffed
Stories from inside California prisons
Chanthon Bun is a founding producer of KALW's Uncuffed
Dámon “L.A.” Cookë or “The Nomad” is a true force of nature
Steve Drown is a producer of KALW's Uncuffed, presenting stories that show the humanity of incarcerated people.
Luis Balbino Bandilla Gomez was born in the US, and comes from a first generation immigrant Mexican family. He graduated in 2022 from Lassen Community College with Vice Presidential honors, obtaining his degree in Social Sciences. He plans to transfer to a 4-year University in pursuit of a major in Infrastructure Systems. He loves working with computers, helping others, and leads the management of KALW’s studio equipment and inventory at Solano CSP. As an Uncuffed producer, Luis makes personal public-interest stories that reflect his Mexican culture inside and outside of prison.

Joe Kirk paroled in 2020, after serving 5 years. The one thing that kept Joe going in prison was the memory of his grandparents' farm on the outskirts of Peoria, Illinois.
An avid listener of radio, award winning podcaster, and published author, Bryan Mazza spends his time writing, teaching, and training service animals for those in need. A native of California, Mazza uses his experiences to help others and to shape his artistic perspective in his many endeavors in both radio and creative writing.
Nathan "Nate" McKinney is a founding co-host of Uncuffed. He paroled from San Quentin in 2022, after serving more than 20 years.
Thomas "Shakur" Ross is a producer of KALW's Uncuffed, presenting stories that show the humanity of incarcerated people.
Brian “bf” Thames has published five non-fiction books while incarcerated over the last 30 years. A pending 6th book advocating self-reliance and better decision making in potentially dangerous encounters is on the way. Learning languages is an exciting pastime for him. He’s become reasonably fluent in French, conversational in Spanish, and learned ASL during the Covid-19 pandemic. His favorite animals are Great Danes, and any variation of parrots/parakeets. Acquiring general knowledge and education about the world and existence tends to make him giddy.