Lifestyle
People in prison explain what music means to them — and how they access it
Many states have introduced tablets into prisons, allowing users to do things like listen to music and send messages. Several incarcerated people told NPR that while the devices aren’t perfect, the ability to stream music has been a game-changer.
Sarah Gonzales for NPR
hide caption
toggle caption
Sarah Gonzales for NPR
Many states have introduced tablets into prisons, allowing users to do things like listen to music and send messages. Several incarcerated people told NPR that while the devices aren’t perfect, the ability to stream music has been a game-changer.
Sarah Gonzales for NPR
Joe Garcia first heard about Taylor Swift in the late 2000’s, while he was in the Los Angeles County jail awaiting trial on murder charges. He initially wasn’t impressed with her music.
Now, multiple albums and prison transfers later, he credits Swift’s music with helping him get through his life sentence.
“Taylor Swift’s voice, the fairytale romance of it all, takes me back to a much more idyllic time and kind of keeps me focused on recapturing that type of sentiment as I go forward in life,” said Garcia, who was convicted of murder and is eligible for a parole hearing, which is tentatively scheduled for April.
Garcia — who counts “White Horse,” “The Man” and “…Ready for it?” among his top five — detailed his journey into Swiftdom in an essay that was published in the New Yorker last fall in collaboration with the Prison Journalism Project (PJP), a nonprofit organization that trains and publishes incarcerated writers.
The piece describes the impact of Swift’s music on his life — including his rekindled relationship with the woman he describes as his “sweetheart” — and the often-complicated logistics of accessing music behind bars over the years.
It has since been shared widely on social media, where many users wrote that it brought them to tears.
Garcia, who is now at High Desert State Prison in California, told NPR that even though he wasn’t able to follow the reaction in real time, he’s been moved to hear that his essay (one of many he’s published through PJP) resonated with so many people.
“In a lot of ways, I’m a normal human being with all kinds of emotions and heartache and depression … just like anybody who’s not in prison,” he told Morning Edition in a phone interview. “And so I’m always trying to figure out a way to communicate that type of empathy, I guess, and get people on the outside to understand what it’s like in here.”
Joe Garcia wrote about his experience listening to Taylor Swift in prison in a New Yorker essay that went viral in September.
Courtesy of Prison Journalism Project and Joe Garcia
hide caption
toggle caption
Courtesy of Prison Journalism Project and Joe Garcia
Garcia hoped that centering Swift, one of the most beloved and influential musicians working today, would be a relatable way to get that point across.
And while he can (and did) speak at length about his favorite eras, his piece shines a spotlight on a much broader topic: the mechanics, and meaning, of music in prison.
How people get access to music in prison
Garcia’s story illustrates some of the challenges that incarcerated people have faced in accessing music — and how new technology has made it possible for many to listen to songs and artists of their choice, some for the first time in years.
His essay details how he navigated ever-changing sets of rules and social dynamics to listen to music in various prisons over more than a decade.
That journey included shared CD players, a borrowed pocket radio, a reconfigured “old-school boombox,” an MP3 player paid for by his family and, most recently, a tablet.
Dozens of states have made tablets available — either for free or for sale — to prisoners in recent years, starting with Colorado in 2016. Almost all people incarcerated in California, where Garcia resides, now have them. And the companies behind the tablets said they had roughly one million users nationwide as of late last year.
“We are given a free tablet that is assigned to us by the state,” Garcia explained. “And then there’s a whole bunch of services that are either free or we have to pay for.”
Users can pay money to send messages, make video calls, play games, download books and stream music, among other functions.
There are still limits around consuming music, as incarcerated people told NPR. Songs cost money and tablets are in many cases only allowed during certain hours of the day. And the streaming services they come with don’t all let users do things like play an artist’s entire discography or curate a personalized playlist — as opposed to saving existing playlists.
Even so, they say, the technology makes a big difference in their day-to-day lives.
“Music is just a huge, tremendous factor in here,” Garcia said. “All throughout my everyday day to day, you see guys walking around with headphones on, with earbuds in. They’ll be singing along to whatever they’re listening to, they’ll be reciting their own type of rap lyrics, they’ll be in circles comparing things.”
Not everyone is listening to the same songs, of course.
A Spotify playlist of the dozens of songs PJP writers said meant the most to them in 2023 includes artists as varied as Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood, Kendrick Lamar, John Lennon and Miley Cyrus (and also Swift).
Music as a means of relief and connection
Several people at prisons across the country told NPR that music makes them feel connected, both to others and the outside world.
Jeffrey Shockley, who is 24 years into serving a life sentence in Pennsylvania for murder, says music offers some relief from the “mundane monotony” of prison. That’s especially true when you’re not limited by what radio stations are nearby and which songs they decide to play, he adds.
Jeffrey Shockley, who is serving a life sentence in Pennsylvania, says he listens to everything from Beethoven to Eminem.
Courtesy of Prison Journalism Project and Jeffrey Shockley
hide caption
toggle caption
Courtesy of Prison Journalism Project and Jeffrey Shockley
Shockley estimates he has more than a thousand songs on his tablet, ranging from Christian music to classical to Eminem. He says being able to choose what he wants to hear throughout the day — like reggae on a happy morning or Beethoven before bed — has a huge impact on his mood.
“It’s being able to have that ability to reach out and hear something different that will catapult you out of whatever depths of hell you may be in in that moment, figuratively speaking,” he added.
Plus, Shockley said, listening to different genres gives him more to talk about with different types of people.
Garcia similarly says music is one of the few mediums — along with sports and news — that people in prison can share, regardless of their race or background. He says music helps him connect with others, even as someone who was admittedly somewhat antisocial before prison.
“Music is kind of one facet of me trying to open my heart and really appreciate people for who they are,” he added. “And I really do see that a lot in the other incarcerated guys … We end up using it as a platform to come together instead of being divisive.”
Garcia said music not only helps him connect with other people, but also with the outside world. He’s spent his whole life paying attention to new music — which is why he’s now listening to Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo at age 54.
“I don’t want to lose track of what the world is like,” he added.
Reflecting on the past and looking to the future
Music can bring back powerful memories and provide a source of hope for the future, incarcerated people say.
Shockley, 61, says hearing the music his grandmother raised him on, like gospel and Aretha Franklin, reminds him both of his family and simpler times.
“[Like] when you’re a young boy and you’re doing things and running around, playing in the backyard in the green grass,” he explained. “And now you’re sitting in a concrete jungle and hoping for a breath of fresh air .. It’s like a tranquil moment that some people may take for granted because when you don’t have it, you miss it.”
That music, he adds, inspires him to try to give back and uplift others as he was taught — but admittedly struggled to do — when he was younger.
“I don’t want to be who I was,” he said. “So I’m going to be who I can be or should have been.”
KC Johnson, who is incarcerated in North Carolina, described their tablet as a “lifesaver.”
They got it in 2021, just two months before their mom died. The two shared a love of blues, and Johnson was especially grateful to be able to listen to music that reminded them of her.
KC Johnson, whose release date is in three years, looks forward to going to concerts for the first time in over two decades.
Courtesy of Prison Journalism Project and KC Johnson
hide caption
toggle caption
Courtesy of Prison Journalism Project and KC Johnson
Johnson, who was convicted of robbery and second-degree murder, said music — especially concerts — was a huge part of their life before they went to prison some 17 years ago.
Now they listen to music pretty much all day: on their tablet while studying, with a portable radio while running or over the speakers at their work-release job at a local food bank (notably the only time they don’t need headphones).
“That’s where all my money goes,” said Johnson, 45. “It’s for my tablet, for my music.”
Johnson’s projected release date is in late 2026, at which point they are planning to move into a halfway house. They are especially excited that the facility allows MP3 players, which will hopefully mean easier access to artists on demand, including on runs.
Johnson is also looking forward to seeing live music again, for the first time in over two decades. Going to a festival is at the top of their to-do list. They say they’ve always loved the positive energy at concerts, where everyone is there for the same reason and getting along.
“I just want to get back in that atmosphere,” Johnson said. “So much has changed in the world, but I feel like going to something like that, it will still be like it was when I was younger — or I hope it is.”
Johnson sees music as a way to reconnect with their past self — and expects the same will be true even once they’re out of prison.
“The songs that I’ve listened to and hear will remind me of my strength and endurance and everything that got me through,” they said. “It’s a powerful tool, music is.”
The broadcast piece was produced by Mansee Khurana.
On-air challenge
Every year around this time I present a “new names in the news” quiz. I’m going to give you some names that you’d probably never heard before 2025 but that were prominent in the news during the past 12 months. You tell me who or what they are.
1. Zohran Mamdani
2. Karoline Leavitt
3. Mark Carney
4. Robert Francis Prevost (hint: Chicago)
5. Jeffrey Goldberg (hint: The Atlantic)
6. Sanae Takaichi
7. Nameless raccoon, Hanover County, Virginia
Last week’s challenge
Last week’s challenge came from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn. Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?
Challenge answer
Ague –> Plagued / Plagues / Leagues
Winner
Calvin Siemer of Henderson, Nev.
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge is a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
Daniel Tosh
Sells Lake Tahoe Home for Millions
Published
Daniel Tosh has officially sold his sprawling Lake Tahoe compound but the comedian isn’t leaving the area … TMZ has learned.
Real estate sources tell us the 7-bedroom, 7-bath estate officially closed Friday for $10.75 million, and Tosh bought another property across the lake to be closer to friends, which is why he decided to sell.
The gated estate, located on the pristine west shore between Tahoe City and Sunnyside, sprawls across 1.6 acres and features three distinct homes, each with its own character and charm.
The Upper House is the ultimate entertainer’s dream … 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, elevator, game room, industrial ice cream maker, 4-car garage, hot tub, fire pit, bocce and horseshoe pits, and sprawling lawns with breathtaking lake views.
The Middle House keeps classic Tahoe charm alive with knotty pine interiors, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, a stone fireplace, skylit kitchen, and steam shower — perfect for unwinding after a day on the lake.
The lakeside cabin is a serene retreat with a studio loft, retro kitchenette, modern bathroom, and French doors opening right onto the lake.
Altogether, the property boasts 93 feet of lake frontage, two buoys, and multiple outdoor spaces for fun and relaxation.
Daniel may be moving, but one thing’s clear … he’s still very much a Lake Tahoe guy, just on the other side of the lake now.
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield.
Netflix
hide caption
toggle caption
Netflix
Yes, there are spoilers ahead for the final episode of Stranger Things.
On New Year’s Eve, the very popular Netflix show Stranger Things came to an end after five seasons and almost 10 years. With actors who started as tweens now in their 20s, it was probably inevitable that the tale of a bunch of kids who fought monsters would wind down. In the two-plus-hour finale, there was a lot of preparation, then there was a final battle, and then there was a roughly 40-minute epilogue catching up with our heroes 18 months later. And how well did it all work? Let’s talk about it.
Worked: The final battle
The strongest part of the finale was the battle itself, set in the Abyss, in which the crew battled Vecna, who was inside the Mind Flayer, which is, roughly speaking, a giant spider. This meant that inside, Eleven could go one-on-one with Vecna (also known as Henry, or One, or Mr. Whatsit) while outside, her friends used their flamethrowers and guns and flares and slingshots and whatnot to take down the Mind Flayer. (You could tell that Nancy was going to be the badass of the fight as soon as you saw not only her big gun, but also her hair, which strongly evoked Ripley in the Alien movies.) And of course, Joyce took off Vecna’s head with an axe while everybody remembered all the people Vecna has killed who they cared about. Pretty good fight!
Did not work: Too much talking before the fight
As the group prepared to fight Vecna, we watched one scene where the music swelled as Hopper poured out his feelings to Eleven about how she deserved to live and shouldn’t sacrifice herself. Roughly 15 minutes later, the music swelled for a very similarly blocked and shot scene in which Eleven poured out her feelings to Hopper about why she wanted to sacrifice herself. Generally, two monologues are less interesting than a conversation would be. Elsewhere, Jonathan and Steve had a talk that didn’t add much, and Will and Mike had a talk that didn’t add much (after Will’s coming-out scene in the previous episode), both while preparing to fight a giant monster. It’s not that there’s a right or wrong length for a finale like this, but telling us things we already know tends to slow down the action for no reason. Not every dynamic needed a button on it.
Worked: Dungeons & Dragons bringing the group together
It was perhaps inevitable that we would end with a game of D&D, just as we began. But now, these kids are feeling the distance between who they are now and who they were when they used to play together. The fact that they still enjoy each other’s company so much, even when there are no world-shattering stakes, is what makes them seem the most at peace, more than a celebratory graduation. And passing the game off to Holly and her friends, including the now-included Derek, was a very nice touch.
Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington.
Netflix
hide caption
toggle caption
Netflix
Did not work: Dr. Kay, played by Linda Hamilton
It seemed very exciting that Stranger Things was going to have Linda Hamilton, actual ’80s action icon, on hand this season playing Dr. Kay, the evil military scientist who wanted to capture and kill Eleven at any cost. But she got very little to do, and the resolution to her story was baffling. After the final battle, after the Upside Down is destroyed, she believes Eleven to be dead. But … then what happened? She let them all call taxis home, including Hopper, who killed a whole bunch of soldiers? Including all the kids who now know all about her and everything she did? All the kids who ventured into the Abyss are going to be left alone? Perfect logic is certainly not anybody’s expectation, but when you end a sequence with your entire group of heroes at the mercy of a band of violent goons, it would be nice to say something about how they ended up not at the mercy of said goons.
Worked: Needle drops
Listen, it’s not easy to get one Prince song for your show, let alone two: “Purple Rain” and “When Doves Cry.” When the Duffer Brothers say they needed something epic, and these songs feel epic, they are not wrong. There continues to be a heft to the Purple Rain album that helps to lend some heft to a story like this, particularly given the period setting. “Landslide” was a little cheesy as the lead-in to the epilogue, but … the epilogue was honestly pretty cheesy, so perhaps that’s appropriate.
Did not work: The non-ending
As to whether Eleven really died or is really just backpacking in a foreign country where no one can find her, the Duffer Brothers, who created the show, have been very clear that the ending is left up to you. You can think she’s dead, or you can think she’s alive; they have intentionally not given the answer. It’s possible to write ambiguous endings that work really well, but this one felt like a cop-out, an attempt to have it both ways. There’s also a real danger in expanding characters’ supernatural powers to the point where they can make anything seem like anything, so maybe much of what you saw never happened. After all, if you don’t know that did happen, how much else might not have happened?
This piece also appears in NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss the next one, plus get weekly recommendations about what’s making us happy.
Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Cuba says 32 Cuban fighters killed in US raids on Venezuela
US appeals court strikes down California’s open-carry ban in major Second Amendment ruling
Police seek suspect after dentist and wife found shot dead at home while 2 young children are unharmed
Texas requires students learn about ‘perils of communism’ in sweeping new curriculum overhaul
Redistricting battles brewing across the country as parties compete for power ahead of 2026 midterms
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Cuba says 32 Cuban fighters killed in US raids on Venezuela
Dan Bongino officially leaves FBI deputy director role after less than a year, returns to ‘civilian life’
Hundreds march in silence to honour Crans-Montana fire victims
Here’s a partial list of U.S. elected officials opposing Trump’s invasion of Venezuela
Crans Montana organises solemn march for the victims • FRANCE 24 English
-
World7 days agoHamas builds new terror regime in Gaza, recruiting teens amid problematic election
-
Indianapolis, IN1 week agoIndianapolis Colts playoffs: Updated elimination scenario, AFC standings, playoff picture for Week 17
-
Business1 week agoGoogle is at last letting users swap out embarrassing Gmail addresses without losing their data
-
Southeast1 week agoTwo attorneys vanish during Florida fishing trip as ‘heartbroken’ wife pleads for help finding them
-
World1 week agoSnoop Dogg, Lainey Wilson, Huntr/x and Andrea Bocelli Deliver Christmas-Themed Halftime Show for Netflix’s NFL Lions-Vikings Telecast
-
Politics1 week agoMost shocking examples of Chinese espionage uncovered by the US this year: ‘Just the tip of the iceberg’
-
News1 week agoRoads could remain slick, icy Saturday morning in Philadelphia area, tracking another storm on the way
-
World1 week agoPodcast: The 2025 EU-US relationship explained simply