Concrete Mama: The Podcast

BONUS - "All Roads Lead to Walla Walla"
Release Date: September 15, 2025
Hosts & Guests: Rachel Check, Anthony Covert, Red Campbell, Cambo, Vik Chopra, and others
Location: Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla

Episode Overview

In this special bonus episode, the Concrete Mama team offers an intimate, unfiltered look at the origins and ongoing journey of the podcast and movement. This candid roundtable—featuring all-star creators and hosts like Anthony Covert, Rachel Check, Vic Chopra, and more—illuminates the synchronicities that brought them together, the personal and collective transformations underway, and the evolving mission to challenge the entrenched narratives about life inside America’s prisons. Through vivid recollections, raw emotions, and reflections on home, legacy, and brotherhood, listeners are offered a rare, honest perspective from both sides of the wall. The team also spotlights meaningful upcoming events and invites the wider community to join the movement.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origins: From Synchronicity to Purpose

• The group discusses the almost fateful, interwoven nature of how they all met—often through random-seeming meetings, shared missions, or even geographic connections to Walla Walla.
  • Vic Chopra recounts starting Unincarcerated Productions post-release, leading naturally to collaborating with Rachel Check, who coincidentally lived close by and shared a background in prison education.
  • Rachel: “I met Spencer at this event...the lights come on at the end and he looks at me and he’s like 'Rachel.' It was just so out of context.” [04:38]
  • Anthony: “That’s like a divine game of connect the dots. Where everything just seemed to line up.” [07:53]

2. Building the Unincarcerated Community

• The hosts explain how Unincarcerated evolved from film dreams and advocacy to media production out of necessity—pivoting during the pandemic from in-person to podcasts and then developing original content and working with other justice-focused organizations.
  • Vic: “I have actively been working in production since I got out...I eat, I live, I breathe production, film, television.” [07:00]
• The conversation regularly circles back to the theme of synchronicity, with everyone marveling at their connection to Walla Walla and how stories and collaborators have been naturally drawn to the cause.

3. Trust, Skepticism, and Breaking Down Barriers

• The complexities of trust between incarcerated and non-incarcerated collaborators are openly discussed, with several members recalling initial skepticism about outsiders’ motives.
  • Anthony: “I’m always skeptical of outside people...When you do time, you become skeptical of everybody.” [09:57]
  • Red: “Once I started talking to you guys and I seen how involved you were...my mind changed really quick.” [11:18]
  • Cambo: “It kind of aligns with all of us...just break that barrier of that false stigma on prison and shine a light on all of us.” [12:20]
• There’s a recurring recognition that genuine effort, presence, and shared purpose broke down those walls, leading to mutual respect and true partnership.

4. Healing, Coming Full Circle & Corrective Emotional Experience

• Several moments highlight what it means to return to spaces marked by trauma and reframe those experiences:
  • Vic describes the emotionally charged process of coming back to Walla Walla as a free man after years inside.
    • “There’s constant triggers...I remember getting off the chain bus...but now I’m here, too. That’s something I can’t wait for all y’all.” [18:30]
  • Rachel introduces the concept of a “corrective emotional experience.”
    • “If you experience something shitty, and then go back and do it again, but then it’s a good experience...that’s a corrective emotional experience.” [22:00]
  • Anthony: “Everywhere I go, I carry my brother’s story with me as well...Transformation isn’t enough—we don’t change, we heal.” [22:50]

5. Legacy, Growth, and Living Through Each Other

• Anthony, recently released, grapples openly with the responsibility and hope of being a ‘living legacy’—carrying not just his journey but those of his brothers still inside.
  • “My story continues on the outside...everybody’s going to be looking at you. They want to live through your successes and celebrate with you.” [38:17]
• The group uses metaphors of plants and growth to describe transformation:
  • “When plants grow, they reach upwards. I watered my roots and I’m reaching upwards, and that’s what I want to keep doing. I want to leave that behind for all these other guys.” [37:38]

6. The Meaning of Walla Walla: From Stigma to Source of Pride

• Local mythos and history are woven in, detailing the personal and collective journey to reclaim Walla Walla’s name as a source of pride, not just a site of shadows.
  • Rachel: “Growing up literally a couple miles from the prison, I would see this glow in the sky. At night...now with the podcast, it’s a source of pride.” [32:19]
  • Anthony: “When people hear Washington...guess what the other city they’re going to think about and talk about? It’s going to be Walla fucking Walla.” [34:01]
• There’s an acknowledgment of the prison’s impact on the community—families, employees, and the incarcerated population alike.

7. Looking Forward: Events, Art, and Continuing the Movement

• The group invites listeners to a major community celebration and virtual art auction, spotlighting the creative and emotional expression of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists.
  • Anthony: “Be prepared to have your socks blown off. We got some amazing art...this event...is a place to showcase who we are as storytellers, but also as individuals.” [40:06]
  • Special mention: Upcoming documentary preview and a panel featuring Ear Hustle’s Earlonne Woods. [41:10]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It was obviously kismet, fate, whatever you want to call it.” – Rachel [07:34]
• “No, for sure. It’s more than just telling our story at that point, right? Our story is the catalyst that I feel really opened up the world...” – Anthony [08:49]
• “Pancakes get cooked on both sides.” – Anthony (a recurring, inside-joke moment adopted by the group) [13:03]
• “Just because we’re human and we’re here and just our story, our stories matter, and we’re all taking part of that right now.” – Vic [39:01]
• “You give us something to believe in.” – Anthony [38:36]
• “We’re putting color to a black and white. It’s like getting a colored TV compared to having a black and white TV. You get to see it for what it is now.” – Anthony [35:00]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Origins & Synchronicity: 03:12 – 07:53
• Building Unincarcerated & Evolution of Podcast: 06:24 – 08:49
• Trust Issues & Breaking Down Barriers: 09:35 – 12:20
• First Impressions Both Ways: 13:45 – 17:47
• Healing, Triggers, and Returning: 18:07 – 21:14
• Transformation & Legacy: 22:00 – 24:48 / 36:22 – 38:36
• Walla Walla’s Symbolism: 27:02 – 34:44
• Future Events & Art Auction: 39:53 – end

Tone & Atmosphere

The episode toggles between candid humor, tough honesty, and moments of deep vulnerability. The tone is consistently raw, communal, and compassionate—with ample room for emotion and reflection. Listeners feel invited into a family, not merely an audience, and are encouraged to reconsider preconceptions about life inside and outside the walls.

Summary

This bonus episode of Concrete Mama takes listeners deep into the founding mythos, hard-won trust, and emotional landscape of a movement determined to rewrite the story of incarceration. With narration and memories from both sides of the prison walls, it’s a testament to the power of storytelling, healing, and transformation. As they prepare for community celebration and creative expression, the hosts invite everyone to join the journey and help bring color to the world’s black-and-white narratives about prisons and the people within them.