Co-Host/Inspiration. Can you talk about - what does that mean to you? Maria ponders how her relationship with Suave might change now that hell be free and theyll have a chance to explore their connection beyond a journalist-source relationship. On his way to court, Suave is surprised by the smell of fresh air as he boards a bus and leaves the prison grounds for the first time in decades. He would spend the rest of his life behind bars, and would ultimately die in prison. She teaches audio reporting at the NYU School of Journalism. And Ive pretty much taken every avenue that I could possibly take in prison to rehabilitate myselfMinors do have the ability to change.. I heard in Pennsylvania prisons, if youre a lifer, they aint trying to let you go to college, right? You can do that on your own. Our partnership demonstrates the heights we can reach together in public media. But the return to prison has him questioning a lot of things, including what led him there in the first place. 10.20.2022 David Luis "Suave" Gonzalez A curated collection of links The Record What are records? You know, Im gonna be the baddest dude on the block.. You had life without parole. Audrey Quinn is a documentary audio reporter and editor. Suave returns to prison. As she anxiously awaits a phone call from Suave, Maria sets out to try and figure out what happened and eventually finds herself torn between her faith in Suaves innocence and her responsibility to believe his accuser. Suave is a seven-part podcast series about the criminal justice system that sentences juveniles to life in prison particularly young men of color and what happens when, decades later, theyre suddenly granted one more chance at freedom. And I'm still honored to be that source. Suave, you just heard Maria say, he's not a friend. Maggie Freleng is an investigative journalist, producer and the host/producer of Unjust & Unsolved, a podcast about wrongful convictions and the crimes that are consequently left unsolved. Stephanie Lebow is the Senior Audio Engineer across Futuro Medias properties. CHANG: So Maria, I want to start with you because you met Suave back in the early '90s when the conversation around the criminal justice system was so different from the conversation we are having now about the criminal justice system. I was fascinated with the lifestyle. There are still several episodes to go in this podcast, so I don't know how the story ends up. In the nearly three decades that you've been watching the system evolve, can you just describe what has happened to get us to this point, with Suave released and no longer serving a life sentence? How big of a difference would it make if institutions across the country really put a focus on education? Gavin Newsom earlier this year. Seuss book. The Slate Group LLC. You may have heard some of our reporting over the last few years about a man named Suave, who is serving a life sentence for murder at a prison in Pennsylvania. He taught other inmates how to paint watercolor. The organization gave away scholarships of $500, $1,000 and $2,000. What gave you the motivation even to keep breathing, bro? One of them was David Luis "Suave" Gonzalez, who entered prison at 17 expecting to leave in a coffin. I failed miserably in going to the hole for fuckin guards up. From prison to podcast: 'Suave' explores the friendship between a I believe in going as far as stopping for an injured animal and saving it to fixing a butterflies wing and helping it fly for a week until it flew away. GONZALEZ: And I always tell people, like, we never know who we're going to touch. And thats what we did: Im gonna create a program for yall and yall gonna let me in that program.. As a Soros Justice Media Fellow, she spent 2019 documenting the human repercussions of changing legal policies along the U.S.-Mexico border. Maria worries about the lasting effects of lifetime parole on Suave and comforts him through some tough disappointments. You can avoid it by skipping between minute 4:45-6:45. Additionally, Hinojosa was the first Latina to anchor a PBS FRONTLINE report: Lost in Detention which aired in October 2011 and was the first to explore abuse at immigrant detention facilities, garnering attention from Capitol Hill as well as both the mainstream and Spanish-language media. Kagan wrote that adolescence is marked by transient rashness, proclivity for risk and inability to assess consequences, all factors that should mitigate the punishment received by juvenile defendants. I think that that makes us better journalists. Everything - phones, computers. When I met Maria, I was at a point that I wanted to commit suicide. Man arrested in Paterson death that resulted from single punch 2023 What starts as a brief conversation leads to decades of communication between the two, walking the boundary between a journalist-source relationship and true friendship. I'm never going to catch up. Suave | iHeart Jones committed his horrible crime when he did not have access to medications he was taking for his mental health issues. But he soon realizes there are limits to how much freedom he can ever truly have, and Maria realizes there are limits to how much she can help him. I mean, I was really struck by something you said in the first episode - that, quote, "We have this tool that we journalists can use, which is our humanity" - that if you give humanity, you're going to get it back. Maria Hinojosa on 'Suave', her now Pulitzer-winning podcast: "We What can I do? Hinojosa responded, You could be my source. Fifteen seconds changed my whole life.. Youre a victim, so you victimize other people because youre hurt. So I started visualizing and putting myself in places that Id never been before. She has been honored with her own day in October by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and has been recognized by People En Espaol as one of the 25 most powerful Latina women. And he imagines this is what his life will be like until he dies. Martinelli previously wrote for CBS-46 in Atlanta, the Gwinnett Daily Post, and the Atlanta Latino Newspaper. I think thats the reason we won., This is a remarkable achievement. Maggie is an Adjunct Professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and formerly the Producer-at-Large for Latino USA. l mean, of course it would have been easier, but guess what? He been feature on Latino USA on NPR, and In The Thick. Futuro Media Receives Major Grant from Mellon Foundation to, As Nation Changes Stance on Life Sentences for Minors,, White Latinos Dont Exist, Wannabes Do (OPINION), In Puerto Rico, 'Historic Moment' for Labor Movement, #NoMames: The Ignorantly Shameful Mexican Immigration Prank Video. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. "So this day is not . Its the account of one mans incarceration and redemption and an unusual relationship between a journalist and a man convicted of murder. Incarceration, Oral History & 'Suave' with David Luis "Suave" Gonzalez Luis Suave Gonzalez was only 17 at the time, making him a juvenile, but he was tried as an adult and given a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of ever being released. I mean, it was, like, the farthest thing from my mind. DAVID LUIS "SUAVE" GONZALEZ: It hit me almost 10 years later that I have a life sentence, that I'm going to die in prison. As the decades pass, Suave becomes a mentor for younger men and a model citizen inside the prison. Luis Suave Gonzalez is a graduate from Villanova University, Dirctor of NuStop Resource Center, a 2014 TED talk presenter, a muralist, writer, and community activist, helping returning citizens acclimate themselves back into the community. In 1988, Gonzalez was found guilty of a first-degree homicide committed when he was 17 years old. And then I started believing that maybe there's a possibility because I started seeing different cases happening across the United States dealing with juveniles. Still, Gonzalez eventually fought his way into Villanova Universitys privately funded college program at Graterford Prison, the maximum security facility where he was incarcerated. Today, he heads up the editorial podcast team at Futuro Studios, the original programming division of the Futuro Media Group. He also co-hosts Death by Incarceration, which will be featuring episodes this fall focused on the various ways people in prison get an education. That little place right here changed my whole life. She was an NPR Next Generation Radio fellow and 2019 Ford Foundation 50 Women Can Change the World in Journalism fellow. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. We are ghetto or urban journalists, whatever they want to call us. To hear the entire conversation between Rahsaan New York Thomas and Suave Gonzalez, check out thisnew episode from Death by Incarceration. Shes been invited to discuss her reporting on WBEZs Morning Shift, WAMUs 1A and NPRs Up First podcast. The new unit reintroduces Suave to a lot of freedomshes no longer in a small cell, he can eat and shower whenever he wants and can even walk the perimeter of the prison. How does that sit with you? She has been honored with her own day in October by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and has been recognized by People En Espaol as one of the 25 most powerful Latina women. Futuro Studios and PRX Present "Suave," A New Podcast About the System That Sentences Juveniles to Life in Prison, A Story of Incarceration, Redemption, and the Unusual Relationship Between A. And he imagines this is what his life will be like until he dies. Our team of podcast producers, editors, sound designers and engineers have collectively won some of the highest awards in narrative and investigative journalism. A Latino juvenile lifer, Suave had been on what he described as a suicide mission. In 2019, she was named the inaugural Distinguished Journalist in Residence at her alma mater, Barnard College. And I understood that. And to me, it was just them simple words - you could be the voice for the voiceless - nothing else. That means he was never going to get out. In the nearly three decades that you've been watching the system evolve, can you just describe what has happened to get us to this point, with Suave released and no longer serving a life sentence? Three men have been arrested following a deadly shooting at a Lodi apartment complex in March. He had gotten a life sentence as a juvenile without the possibility of parole. And that someone was Maria. Will Luis Suave Gonzalez and Other Juvenile Lifers Be Released from Prison? It's impossible. And the more she learns about Suaves crime, the more she comes to question the events that put Suave in prisonand the system that puts away children to life in the first place.