Four Flat Tires | BONUS | Season 2

Summary

Burden of Guilt – Four Flat Tires | BONUS Episode

Podcast: Burden of Guilt
Host: iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts
Episode Date: March 12, 2026
Episode Title: Four Flat Tires | BONUS

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Episode Overview

This bonus episode of Burden of Guilt dives deeply into the early life of Jermaine Hudson—convicted in 1999 and sentenced to 99 years in Angola Prison—through the eyes of his lifelong friend, Sam. By revisiting Jermaine’s formative years in the Fisher Projects of New Orleans, the episode explores how systemic racism, poverty, and the criminal justice system shaped the trajectories of Black youths like Jermaine and Sam. The story uncovers the crushing inevitability many felt in their communities: that life itself was a battle for survival, and the odds were severely stacked against them.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Harsh Reality of Growing Up in the Fisher Projects

• Carrie Hartman (Senior Producer) introduces the episode by noting how meeting Jermaine’s childhood friends revealed the environment he grew up in—where “childhood and survival unfortunately intertwined.” (02:01–02:53)
• Sam describes routine violence:

  “I'm stepping over bodies, witnessing bodies coming home from elementary school… cause somebody was murdered.”
  [Sam, 02:41]

2. Life and Friendship in the Projects

• Sam recalls that, despite their tough surroundings, he and Jermaine were “just 10 year old kids… play[ing] football, play[ing] basketball, talk[ing] about sports.”
  [Sam, 03:38]
• Their close bond:

  “Me and Jermaine was so close. We were together every day.”
  [Sam, 03:42]

3. Turning Point: Teenage Years & Legal Troubles

• Carrie notes the turning point in their teen years:

  “But life took a turn once they became teenagers.”
  [Carrie Hartman, 03:52]

• Sam admits his own troubles began after high school:

  “After high school, we just got off into hanging out with the bad crowd.”
  [Sam, 03:56]

• He shares how constant police interactions were a fact of life:

  “Stay with the police and the police running from the police, and they know my name very well.”
  [Sam, 04:16]

4. Justice System & Injustice as a Fact of Life

• Both men, as Black youths, internalized a dangerous lesson:

  “We guilty for being before anything, right or wrong, we guilty.”
  [Sam, 04:33]

• Sam discusses how access to legal support—or lack thereof—sealed fates:

  “We young, we black, with nobody with lawyers. Who gonna help us out with the lawyer? Nobody.”
  [Sam, 05:21]

5. The Impossible Choices Facing Young Black Defendants

• Carrie narrates the dilemma:

  “You’re often faced with a choice. Take a plea deal that guarantees a shorter prison sentence or roll the dice by going to trial.”
  [Carrie Hartman, 05:30]

• Sam shares the gravity of such choices:

  “So what you gonna do? Plea out or go to trial?”
  [Sam, 05:43]

6. Systemic Incarceration and the Specter of Angola Prison

• Sam paints a grim picture about the carceral pipeline:

  “We don't stand a chance back there. Black men do not stand a chance back there.”
  [Sam, 06:07]

• Carrie contextualizes Louisiana’s staggering incarceration rates and the notoriety of Angola:

  “Getting wrapped up in the carceral system can feel less like an unfortunate circumstance and more like destiny.”
  [Carrie Hartman, 05:47–06:12]

• Sam introduces the slang “Four Flat Tires”:

  “Angola, we used to call that four flat ties. Four flat ties, he ain't never going nowhere… When you say Angola, you think about the bloodiest penitentiary across America.”
  [Sam, 06:32]

7. Hope, Regret, and Enduring Anger

• Sam eventually pulled his life together, but expresses continuing pain and rage over Jermaine’s fate:

  “I was scared for my brother and I was mad. They did him dirty. I was mad and did him dirty. 99 years. Come on, man, say my brother died. Ain't no man gonna do 99 years.”
  [Sam, 07:09]

• Carrie closes the main segment with the promise of exploring Jermaine’s improbable hope and journey in the next episode:

  “It sounded like a death sentence, but for Jermaine it wasn’t.”
  [Carrie Hartman, 07:26]

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “I'm stepping over bodies, witnessing bodies coming home from elementary school… cause somebody was murdered.”
  — Sam (02:41)
• “We guilty for being before anything, right or wrong, we guilty.”
  — Sam (04:33)
• “We young, we black, with nobody with lawyers. Who gonna help us out with the lawyer? Nobody.”
  — Sam (05:21)
• “Angola, we used to call that four flat ties. Four flat ties, he ain't never going nowhere… When you say Angola, you think about the bloodiest penitentiary across America.”
  — Sam (06:32)
• “I was scared for my brother and I was mad. They did him dirty.”
  — Sam (07:09)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [02:01] – Carrie introduces the focus on Jermaine’s friendships and childhood.
• [02:41] – Sam describes the Fisher Projects’ violence.
• [03:17]–[03:38] – Reflections on innocence and childhood friendship.
• [03:56]–[04:16] – Teenage years and first encounters with the justice system.
• [04:33] – Systemic presumption of guilt for Black youth.
• [05:21] – The role of resources and access to legal defense.
• [06:32] – The meaning of “Four Flat Tires” and the terror of Angola Prison.
• [07:09] – Sam’s anger and heartbreak over Jermaine’s sentence.

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Conclusion

This bonus episode of Burden of Guilt provides a raw, heartfelt portrait of Jermaine Hudson’s upbringing and the systemic forces that shaped his and his friends’ lives. Through Sam’s words, listeners gain an intimate understanding of the cycle of hardship, violence, and injustice that permeated their world, as well as the sense of hopelessness—and yet enduring connection—that persists. The episode sets the stage for further exploration of Jermaine’s fight against what looked like a life sentence without hope.

Transcript

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[Nancy Glass]

Hi listeners, I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season two podcast and I'm excited to share this riveting story with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of burden of guilt season one 100% AD free and access all episodes of Burden of Guilt Season two one week early through the I Heart True Crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts Plus. You'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love like Betrayal, American Homicide, Creating a the Story of bitcon, Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, the Girlfriends, and more. So don't wait. Head to Apple podcasts, search for iHeart True Crime plus and subscribe today.

[Wells Adams]

Hey, this is Wells Adams with By Order of the Faithfuls podcast alongside my fellow faithfuls and co hosts Tamara Judge and Dolores Catania. The three of us have been watching this season of the Traders, and we've been inside that castle so we have insight. Unlike many others, this season of the Traders may be the best we've ever seen. Listen to By Order the faithfuls on America's number one podcast network, iHeart, followed by order the Faithfuls and start listening on the free iHeartRadio app today.

[Carrie Hartman]

Hi, I'm Carrie Hartman, the senior producer on Burden of Guilt 2. With another bonus episode when our team visited Louisiana, we had the opportunity to meet some of Jermaine's childhood friends. These were men he had relationships with going all the way back to elementary school, and it helped to give us greater insight into Jermaine's young life before Jermaine saw the prison walls of Angola, before the trial, the arrest, and the pain his family endured. He was just a kid in the Fisher Projects, a public housing development where childhood and survival unfortunately intertwined.

[Sam]

I'm stepping over bodies, witnessing bodies coming home from elementary school. You got police, amlams, fire engines, you know, Cause somebody was murdered.

[Carrie Hartman]

It was a rough place for a kid. Well, for anyone really. The Fisher Projects was rife in crime, a stomping ground for drug Deals and a place where residents sometimes had violent clashes with police. It's also the place Jermaine met lifetime friends like Sam. They were just 10 year old kids when they first crossed paths. Meet Sam.

[Sam]

Growing up in the Fisher Project, you could see somebody smoking crack in front of you. Nobody liked to grow up in a project, you know, but something we just had to deal with coming up.

[Carrie Hartman]

Young Jermaine and Sam attended the same school and they hung with the same crowd. And for a lot of their childhood, they just did typical kid things.

[Sam]

Play football, play basketball, talk about sports. Me and Jermaine was so close. We were together every day. It wasn't a deep path. We wasn't together.

[Carrie Hartman]

But life took a turn once they became teenagers.

[Sam]

After high school, we just got off into hanging out with the bad crowd.

[Carrie Hartman]

Earlier we told you about Jermaine's two arrests before Bobby identified him as the man who robbed him. Sam admits he had his own run ins with law enforcement, including drug arrests going all the way back to 1998.

[Sam]

They got in lots of trouble, stay with the police and the police running from the police, and they know my name very well.

[Carrie Hartman]

Early in their lives, Jermaine and Sam learned the same lessons about how they'd be treated in the criminal justice system as black black men in Louisiana, you

[Sam]

know, we guilty for being before anything, right or wrong, we guilty.

[Carrie Hartman]

When Sam found out about Jermaine's arrest for an armed robbery, it didn't make any sense to him. We heard earlier in the series that Jermaine had a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But everyone in the Fisher projects and at school knew Jermaine was a good kid.

[Sam]

I heard what happened to him and I'm like, I couldn't believe it. And I know New Orleans history.

[Carrie Hartman]

And in some ways, that makes his story so much harder to hear. Sam always believed Jermaine was innocent of the armed robbery charge. But Sam was also convinced that Jermaine's case didn't come down to guilt or innocence. It was about access.

[Sam]

We young, we black, with nobody with lawyers. Who gonna help us out with the lawyer? Nobody.

[Carrie Hartman]

You know, when you're arrested and facing charges in Louisiana, you're often faced with a choice. Take a plea deal that guarantees a shorter prison sentence or roll the dice by going to trial.

[Sam]

So what you gonna do? Plea out or go to trial?

[Carrie Hartman]

And as we know, Jermaine took the gamble. In Louisiana, incarceration is commonplace. It's often steeped in neighborhoods like the one Jermaine And Sam grew up in. And getting wrapped up in the carceral system can feel less like an unfortunate circumstance and more like destiny.

[Sam]

We don't stand a chance back there. Black men do not stand a chance back there.

[Carrie Hartman]

Louisiana has some of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Jermaine was wrongfully convicted, and Sam's charges led to him serving six years in prison. But Sam was fortunate in one way. He was never sent to Angola, but he knew, like everyone knew what it represented.

[Sam]

Angola, we used to call that four flat ties. Four flat ties, he ain't never going nowhere. Four flat ties mean you ain't never coming home for life. State of Louisiana means life, natural life. When you say Angola, you think about the bloodiest penitentiary across America.

[Carrie Hartman]

In his 30s, Sam got his life together, raised his kids, and left the streets behind him. But he never expected Jermaine to get that same opportunity. He thought Jermaine would be stuck at Angola for the rest of his life.

[Sam]

I was scared for my brother and I was mad. They did him dirty. I was mad and did him dirty. 99 years. Come on, man, say my brother died. Ain't no man gonna do 99 years.

[Carrie Hartman]

It sounded like a death sentence, but for Jermaine it wasn't. And that's what we'll get into on the next episode of Burden of Guilt.

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[Nancy Glass]

Hi listeners, I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt Season 2 podcast and I'm excited to share this riveting story with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can now get access to all episodes of Burden of guilt season one 100% AD free and and access all episodes of Burden of Guilt Season 2 one week early through the I Heart True Crime plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts plus you'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love like Betrayal, American Homicide, Creating a the Story of bitcon, Paper Ghosts, Piketon Massacre, the Girlfriends and more. So don't wait. Head to Apple podcasts, search for iHeart True Crime plus and subscribe today.

[Wells Adams]

Hey, this is Wells Adams with By Order of the Faithfuls podcast alongside my fellow faithfuls and co hosts Tamara Judge and Dolores Catania. The three of us have been watching this season of the Traitors, and we've been inside that castle, so we have insight unlike many others. This season of the Traders may be the best we've ever seen. Listen to By Order the faithfuls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Grainger Advertiser]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.