WBEZ Chicago has been awarded a $650,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support Prisoncast!, an innovative audio and engaged journalism project created by WBEZ to bring awareness to the lives of those incarcerated and their families.
This three-year grant will allow WBEZ to enhance the service journalism and programming it provides for the hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents affected by the state's carceral system. Prisoncast! will air quarterly radio specials on the Illinois Public Radio network, reaching audiences across the state, alongside digital content, journalism and events for families with incarcerated loved ones. The first of these specials was broadcast on WBEZ 91.5 FM during WBEZ’s midday show, Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons, on Wednesday, October 23rd.
“Our main focus of Prisoncast! is creating something both with and for the community we want to serve,” said WBEZ’s engagement editor Alex Keefe, who leads the project. “Even if you don’t know anyone who’s incarcerated, we work to show you what’s inside this massive, taxpayer-funded system that’s designed to be invisible.”
As part of the expansion of Prisoncast!, Chicago Public Media is also announcing a partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. The Marshall Project's journalists contribute their deep expertise and extensive experience to the project, with innovative distribution in prisons and jails through their print publication, News Inside, and video series, Inside Story. Both organizations will share their joint work across multiple platforms.
Every segment of Prisoncast! begins with a request, idea or question from someone directly affected by incarceration, whether they are in prison themselves or supporting an incarcerated loved one. Topics can range from the soaring cost of commissary items and the struggles of parenting from behind bars to song dedications or sounds from the world beyond prison walls.
The Mellon Foundation’s support will also fund the first full-time position dedicated to the project. Lauren Frost, previously WBEZ’s audio news producer, has been named as Prisoncast!’s inaugural audio & engagement senior producer, further enhancing the show’s ability to serve and engage its audience.
First launched in August 2022, Prisoncast! was created to offer a window into life behind prison walls, a reality often hidden from public view. WBEZ developed the program after discovering that many incarcerated individuals have access to radios, allowing them to connect with family members who are unable to visit in person. By collaborating with the statewide Illinois Public Radio network, Prisoncast! creates a shared listening experience for these families.
The project is also planning for its annual holiday special, airing in December, which will feature heartfelt messages and special broadcasts to bring incarcerated individuals closer to their loved ones during the holiday season.
ABOUT WBEZ CHICAGO
WBEZ is home to local and national news programming as well as a growing portfolio of popular podcasts. WBEZ serves the community with fact-based, objective news and information, and its award-winning journalists ask tough questions, dig deep for answers and expose truths that spark change and foster understanding. WBEZ is supported by nearly 86,000 members, hundreds of corporate sponsors and major donors. For more information go to www.wbez.org.
ABOUT THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.