Join creator and host Lisa Reilly every Saturday morning from 9:32 AM to 10:00 AM, streaming on WHMP.com, or find us on your favorite podcast platform.  Each week, we bring storytelling with grit, purpose, and possibility to break stigmas, reshape narratives, and amplify the voices of justice-involved individuals, advocates, and change-makers. We’ll explore the criminal justice system, addiction recovery, domestic violence, human trafficking, fair-chance employment, and prison reform through powerful storytelling and candid interviews that bring humanity to issues too often overlooked. The Hustler Files is storytelling that will challenge what you thought you knew.

Please reach out with questions or comments to thehustlerfiles@outlook.com

The Hustler Files with Lisa Reilly - Stories That Challenge What You Thought You Knew

Whether you’re getting ready to re-enter the world post incarceration or you’re on probation or parole or you are just struggling with drugs, employment, housing, and more, the All-Inclusive Support Services Program is ready and available to help!  AISS is a division of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, and they provide access to individualized services no matter what level of help you need, AND they were the first full-service reentry program in the U.S., launching in 1996! Of course there is SO much more at AISS than could be covered in this episode so paste this link in your browser - http://hcsdma.org/aiss-3/ for more information.

The Hustler Files Ep 1 - Meet AISS (The All-Inclusive Services Program)

Most of humanity has experienced a ‘worst moment’ in life. If you’re Behind The Wall, other than a rare few, in that your worst moment, you broke the law. Business Strategist, Author and Advocate for Second Chance Hiring Jeffrey Korzenik says, “Whether through resources available in your facility or available after your release, demonstrate that you are not defined by your worst moment”.  This is the case of former inmate Gabriel Santiago who took advantage of the resources and connections available after his re-entry back into society, and with the help of Mark Mitchell, the AISS Mentorship Program Coordinator, Gabe is now an AISS Volunteer Mentor and a Care Coordinator at the Stonybrook Stabilization & Treatment Center,(STCC).

The Hustler Files Ep 2 - We Are Not Defined By Our Worst Moment

In days of old the local Sheriff would protect the town and lock up the ‘bad guys’ until the Circuit Judge showed up for a trial and a sentencing. There were no ‘reentry’ programs, support services or opportunities to redeem oneself.  Modern times, in most cases has changed the thought process around reform and reentry and thankfully people like Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane of the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Department believe that the offerings of resources, such as housing, for those he calls ‘de-incarcerated’ are not only needed but life-changing to prevent recidivism.

The Hustler Files Ep 3 - This Isn't The Wild West Anymore

When Judy Issacson Elias launched the Heroes To Heroes organization in 2010 to help War Zone Veterans who had suffered moral injury she couldn’t have imagined that almost 13 years later she, her staff and her volunteers would have positively impacted 350 veterans and have 750 on a waiting list to join her 18 month program that includes a 10-day biblical journey of faith, to Israel. Seventeen veterans commit suicide every day in the United States and Judy says that to impact veterans suffering from moral injury, is at the core, all about faith.

The Hustler Files Ep 4 - The Power of Together

Not all heroes wear capes, masks and carry a shield, but at Meredith Springfield, a Ludlow Massachusetts manufacturing facility for Fortune 100 companies, Owner Mel O’Leary has spent twenty years as a 2nd chance employer!  In his relationship with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, Mel has not only employed a few hundred formerly incarcerated but approximately one-third of those 2nd chance hires have continued to stay on with him and some have even moved into management positions. Joining Mel in the conversation is Luis, an ex-offender for drug conspiracy, who entered Federal prison at the age of 18 and stayed incarcerated for six years. As with all the Meredith Springfield 2nd chance hires, Luis was given the opportunity to work for Mel while finishing up his sentence in the Hampden re-entry program. Listen in to find out how Mel’s 2nd chance hiring has not been in vain.

The Hustler Files Ep 5 -  Mel & Meredith Springfield, 2nd Chance Heroes

We’ve all heard the quote – ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.’  With more than 600,000 people being released across the U.S. each year yet more than two thirds are rearrested within three years, the prison reform wheel needs to become more innovative, and leading that charge is the California organization, Impact Justice.  Their overall mission, to get creative, change the script and rules of engagement, believe in one another, and expand what’s possible.  Aishatu Yusuf, Vice President of Innovation Programs breaks down some of the transformational projects that take the prison reform movement, head on.  Impact Justice programs run the gamut from a reentry mentorship program for formerly incarcerated, to a sharing economy model that pairs returning citizens with welcoming community housing hosts, and a first of its kind partnership to improve food quality, and provide access to fresh, nourishing, appealing food behind the wall.  As Aishatu Yusuf says, ‘at Impact Justice we are all doers’.

The Hustler Files Ep. 76 - Sometimes You Have to Reinvent the Wheel

Podcasts from all of the local show on WHMP Radio in Northampton, MA. including Talk the Talk with Bill Newman and Buz Eisenberg, The Hustler Files, The Western Mass Business Show, and Panorama.