Julieta Martinelli
Appearances
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
So, Maria, when I'm listening to this, you know, is it jealousy in your voice? Like what's happening with you right now?
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
I guess I've always been curious if like, if you've ever had a reaction like this with any of your other friends or like what you think it is about Suave that, that like brings this out.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
You know, I'm actually kind of glad you brought that up because your relationship has so many different dynamics. There's the business relationship with Suave and then there's the friendship.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
And when you're dealing with so many sort of like competing relationships, like if you got upset with a source for starting a show with somebody else and you're friends, so you have the comfort that you normally wouldn't have with a source, you might say things that you would not normally say.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Maria tells the story that we've all basically memorized by now. How she and Suave met at Graterford Prison while he was incarcerated. How they kept in touch over the years. How things have changed from reporter and source to friendship.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
I do acknowledge what you're saying, but in this conversation we just heard, you don't tell Suave, like, I'm not happy that you're telling your story in another podcast. You say, I was your best friend, and now you have another best friend. You call him bro. Like, that doesn't seem how you would say it to a regular source.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
And over time, to be honest, it just feels like the relationship is not healthy anymore. And you guys have some very tough phone calls like this one.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
At some point amid all of these arguments, there's a trip to Philly. And I sit there and record you to try and hash out what's been going on.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
After years trying to decipher their relationship, pen pals, interviewer, interviewee, creative collaborators, Maria and Suave have been saying the F-word openly now. Friendship. Although, what does it actually mean? I recently asked both Suave and Maria to give me their own definitions of friendship.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
At this point, I notice that we're kind of losing Suave. He's sunk down in his chair. He's looking away from Maria. His body language is speaking very loud. I can see your face, so I'm gonna say something, okay? You know, I can see you shutting down in this conversation. And I'm wondering if it's things like that, that make you withdraw.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Because I can feel like the more that Maria is asking you why you're withdrawing, I can like physically see you pulling away from her on your chair and like not making eye contact and like, I'm wondering if that feels overbearing for you.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Like, I think Marias maybe shows love by wanting to be on top of you. Like, are you okay? Share your location. But I'm worried that for you, that's very like, I need separation.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Listening back now, what do you hear happening in that conversation, Maria?
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Remember back at the beginning when Suave and Maria were defining friendship?
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Suave said he didn't really know what friendship meant. But there was another F word he felt like he could wrap his head around.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Whether it's friends, family, girlfriends, Suave tells me that he feels like he's finally making progress on letting people deeper into his life.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Would you say that you've lost the urge to run every time things get a little complicated?
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Sometimes change happens gradually, and sometimes it comes at you all at once. And you find yourself laughing in a tiny recording booth that used to give you panic attacks, asking your partner to propose with a ring pop, when just months prior, that thought made you want to run. That's the thing about love and change. No one is immune to it.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
And this friendship in particular between Maria and Suave, it's had some highs, but also it's had some really rough spots.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
There's one kind of relationship we didn't talk about in this episode, though.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
His relationship with his brother is still in prison. People he can't or won't leave behind. Guys like Frank.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Suave changed his own fate, and now he's hoping to change it for the man who mentored and showed love to him behind bars.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
That's next time on Suave. Suave is a production of Futuro Studios. To binge every episode of Suave Season 2 right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes, subscribe to Futuro+. The senior producer, reporter, and host is me, Julieta Martinelli. Our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz. We're edited by Marlon Bishop. Our production managers are Jessica Ellis and Nancy Trujillo.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Our post-production producer is Dan Riveros. Scoring and sound design by Stephanie LeBow. Mixing by Stephanie LeBow, Julia Caruso, and JJ Caruven. Our fact checker is Amy Tardif. Production help from Joaquin Kotler, Juan Diego Ramirez, Nicole Rothwell, Joey Del Valle, Evelyn Fajardo-Alvarez, Glorimar Marquez, and Tasha Sandoval.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Our executive producers are Mariano Josa, Luis Suave Gonzalez, Marlon Bishop, and Maria Garcia. Futuro Media was founded by Maria Hinojosa.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Special thanks to Maggie Freeling, Audrey Quinn, Antonia Serejido, Fernanda Echavarri, Neil Rossini, students at the I Am More program at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Abolitionist Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Season 2 of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Mellon makes grants to support the visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org. Season 2 of Suave was made possible in part by Public Welfare Foundation, catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community-led, restorative, and racially just.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Hey, Suave listeners, it's Julieta here. Are you tired of waiting each week for new episodes to come out? Well, you can listen to the whole season of Suave right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes by joining Futuro Plus. And you'll be helping support the independent journalism that we do here at Futuro. Join now at futuromediagroup.org backslash join plus. What's up?
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Friendship, or intimacy in general for that matter, has been one of the biggest challenges for Suave since getting out of prison. How to connect with someone, how to be vulnerable, how to be open. All of these things that he never really had to think about because in prison, it was so important to protect himself, to close himself off from other people.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
From Futuro Studios, this is Suave. I'm Julieta Martinelli. In 2017, David Luis Suave Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. This is a story about life after incarceration and the search for the true meaning of freedom. This is Season 2.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
On this episode, love, relationships, and the fear of the unknown.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Now, seven years later, Suave isn't married, but he is in a relationship. After Maria's talk at the school in Philly, Suave invites us to his home.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
For some context, Suave has been pretty secretive about his dating life with us. But with this person, it seems that something has changed. So on this day, we take an Uber together to North Philly. And there, we meet his partner, Lucero. She's all smiles. Lucero is Puerto Rican.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
She's a mom of a teenager and a grown son who, in one of those weird twists of fate, turns out was actually a correctional officer at SCI Graterford while Suave was incarcerated.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Out here, the standards for a good relationship were very different. And for Suave, they felt almost impossible to meet.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
And Suave will be the first to admit he's attracted, and dare I even say, maybe even a little addicted to drama.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
It's September 2022, and we're in Philadelphia for a day of activities that Suave has planned for Maria. And we're starting at a place that Suave knows really well, Community College of Philadelphia, where he's been working for more than a year. We make our way through long hallways filled with students into a large auditorium.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
That thing that he mentioned about feeling that relationships can feel too intrusive, that doesn't just come up with his girlfriend, but also with Maria. And a great example of that was the whole hospital incident.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Suavez says he was just walking down the street when he became unbalanced, and he took a massive fall. He had blood in his brain, a dislocated jaw, and three fractured ribs.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
You start trying to call the hospital, talk to his doctors. But after trying to get more involved in his care, Suave actually tells me that he isn't really happy about it.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
I know. But, you know, I think she just thinks that she's helping because she knows that you're there by yourself. And I think she's just worried. And it's not just Maria. It's also his girlfriend.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Yeah, I mean, overall, at this point, things were still pretty good between the two of you. But over time, listening to calls that you two would have, you could tell that there were things that were straining the relationship. Well, you know what?
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Suave gives Maria his arm. He walks her up the steps onto the stage.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
So you want to tell me all about it? On this day, Suave is excited because things with his new podcast, Death by Incarceration, are actually going really well.
Suave
Someone's Hand to Hold - Ep. 3
Since the Pulitzer, Suave has impressed a lot of folks in the media industry, including a man who recently became his new business partner and the co-host of his podcast. And that seems to be a touchy subject for Maria.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And there's something else, something big that Suave has been keeping quiet. As we're getting up to leave, Suave works up the courage to share it with Maria.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
We've actually known for a while that Suave's sister, Josefina, has been in dialysis for years. But he says her kidneys are completely failing now. Just a few months ago, Suave told us that she was hospitalized again. At that time, he said it would be too difficult for him to be in good enough health to even want to find out if he could be a donor. But now...
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Suave tells us that he's on a strict health regimen. He's on a doctor-monitor diet and taking a bunch of vitamins. He's got more than 50 pounds to lose in just a few months. But he's been approved as a match.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
I was shocked when Suave told me, and frankly, not really thrilled about all of this. But the more that Suave and I talked about it, the more I understood that Suave is getting ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for love, for his sister, for family. But it's also because he really wants to do something like really good, you know, in a spiritual way.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
It's in the hood. It is like being on the most crowded beach that you can imagine with people wearing really tiny bathing suits and music going crazy from one little spot to the next little spot. But in other words, joy. It's like it's a beach in the Bronx.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And it's also why he agreed to do this podcast in the first place and to open up his life for others, even if it's uncomfortable.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
So, it's going down. I'm always honest with you, Suave. You should be losing that weight because of your love for yourself. Like, the weight that you want to lose shouldn't be because of your sister. It should be because you love yourself and you want to take care of yourself.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
On the other hand, I think that after the experience in Puerto Rico and connecting back with your family that has always loved you, your family in Santurce never stopped loving you. And I would say that your sister, even though she didn't have the capacity to manifest her love for you, still loves you too.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Suave admits that he felt some resentment when he was in prison at not having more contact. Then he got out and understood just how difficult life can be on the outside, too. Now he understands what she was going through differently.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Shedding the anger that he once felt for his sister is only part of a bigger shift within Suave. It's almost like he's feeling more inspired to live.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Over the course of this season, we've witnessed how the long shadow of prison continues to shape Suave's experiences on the outside. How the effects of decades of incarceration didn't just suddenly stop the day that he reenters society.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And how to form lasting relationships when love and commitment trigger his fear of being deprived of freedom and agency.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
The push and pull of both guilt and desire to move on from his life behind bars, but also not wanting to leave his friends behind.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Orchard Beach is on the outer edge of the Bronx, and it was this place that was full of possibilities and excitement for Suave when he was a young boy.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And then there was the anger and mental health crisis unleashed by the theft of his car.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
The incident was a reality check for Suave. You know, he thought he was rehabilitated. And then he starts spiraling and thinking about committing violence. And that's when he finally realizes, like, he needs help before what he'd worked so hard to build was destroyed.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And finally, reuniting with his family and coping with the reality that he is not as close to his family as he'd like to be. That the decades he spent in prison stole connections he'll never be able to get back.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
All of these challenges led us here today. In 2019, I vividly remember the day that I asked you, where do you see yourself in a year? And I asked you if there was anything else on your bucket list that was still there. So five years later, same question. Is there things that are pending on your bucket list right now?
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Long before Suave's incarceration, long before he was even called Suave, Davidcito, or Little David, would spend his weekends here with his mom, helping her sell homemade food so they could get by. It was one of his mom's many hustles. By 16 would be the last time that Suave set foot here.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
You see, Suave giving a kidney to his sister is different than Suave's other advocacy work. Yes, he still wants to change the law. He's still fighting for better rights inside the prison. He's still mentoring dozens of students in his reentry program. He's still advocating for Frank, hoping that the system will have compassion for him.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And yet, there's only so much that he can really do with these bigger systemic problems. But the kidney, that's in his hands. If he can change his eating habits, if he can take his vitamins, if he can do his daily walks, if he can lose weight, he can save someone's life.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
What happens if after you give her your kidney, your sister's like, cool, bro. Thank you. Talk to you in a year.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
In the evening, after our day at the beach, we say goodbye outside of the Futuro office. Suave is taking the subway to Penn Station, where he will board a train home to Philly.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
If Maria had something to say to Suave in that moment, she doesn't really get to. They barely make it to the platform when Suave's train headed to Penn Station shows up.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
He'd moved to Philly, and shortly after, he would end up in prison with a life sentence, and another kid would be dead. For him, Orchard Beach became part of this childhood memory, a memory that he replayed over and over when he was in his prison cell.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Suave tells Maria, on his way back to Philly, he had a small box cutter in his book bag, the kind that you would find at any office to open mail. He carries it in his book bag. It's been there forever. Suave says that as he's walking by, a metal detector goes off.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
In the end, Suavez says his parole officer tells him to go home once they reach Philly, to be more careful, not to let it happen again. Next time, they're going to have to take him in. A reminder that his freedom is always conditional. Something that's been eating at Suavez since the beginning of the season.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
In episode one, Suave revealed that he wasn't happy, that he didn't feel free, despite no longer being in prison.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Now, after all he's been through since then, nearing his eighth anniversary of life beyond prison, I ask him how he feels about his freedom today. What have you learned about freedom?
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Sometimes freedom is as simple as going on a walk on the beach with your friends and seeing some deer. Having choices, even when it's complicated. So, happiness. Is it possible for Suave? Does he deserve to be happy and move on from the past when that past caused harm to someone else?
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And what does it even mean to be free when you finally have what you always wanted and you don't feel the way that you thought you would? Those were the questions that we set out to answer this season. Those were the questions that haunted Suave. Maybe happiness is a tall order for any of us. In prison, Suave lived by a strict set of guidelines laid out by others.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
When he got out, he tried to do what he thought society expected of him to prove to the world that he was worthy of a second chance. I think that these days, Suave is beginning to set his own guidelines and defining for himself what his freedom means to him.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And in a way, some might say that Orchard Beach is where his journey home really began. And so it's here that we've come to reflect at the end of his journey on what freedom really means. And it's also here that Suave reveals to us a decision that's going to change his life, for him and for somebody else. From Futuro Studios, this is Suave. I'm Julieta Martinelli.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
I think you do too. Suave is a production of Futuro Studios. To binge every episode of Suave Season 2 right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes, subscribe to Futuro+. The senior producer, reporter, and host is me, Julieta Martinelli. Our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz. We're edited by Marlon Bishop. Our production managers are Jessica Ellis and Nancy Trujillo.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Our post-production producer is Dan Riveros. Scoring and sound design by Stephanie LeBow. Mixing by Stephanie LeBow, Julia Caruso, and JJ Caruven. Our fact checker is Amy Tardif. Production help from Joaquin Kotler, Juan Diego Ramirez, Nicole Rothwell, Joey Del Valle, Evelyn Fajardo-Alvarez, Glorimar Marquez, and Tasha Sandoval.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Our executive producers are Mariano Josa, Luis Suave Gonzalez, Marlon Bishop, and Maria Garcia. Futuro Media was founded by Mariano Rosa.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Special thanks to Maggie Freeling, Audrey Quinn, Antonia Serejido, Fernanda Echavarri, Neil Rossini, students at the I Am More program at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Abolitionist Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Season 2 of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Mellon makes grants to support divisionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org. Season 2 of Suave was made possible in part by Public Welfare Foundation, catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community-led, restorative, and racially just.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
In 2017, David Luis Suave Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. This is a story about life after incarceration and the search for the true meaning of freedom. This is Season 2. On this episode, where we go from here.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
So the thing is about Orchard Beach is that, I mean, Orchard Beach in and of itself is kind of mythical for all Puerto Ricans in New York. It's like the Puerto Rican Riviera. But in terms of Suave, he brought it up a couple of times when he was in prison and he would talk about these memories of being there with his mom and the rest of his family, his cousin Tony.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And, you know, it was like this was a special place for the whole family. And so I knew I wanted to bring Suave back to Orchard Beach, back to this kind of magical place that he had memories of when he was a little kid.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Now, Futuro is becoming a home for more voices than ever. Help grow this future by joining our new membership program. You'll get exclusive interviews, whole season binges, behind-the-scenes chisme, shape the future of storytelling. Join Futuro Plus now. Visit our website, futuromediagroup.org slash join plus. Y no te vayas. Look at this. Oh, my gosh.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Suave points to an empty concrete path at the entrance to the beach. It's quiet here today. It's noon in the middle of a work week, and we basically have the place all to ourselves.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Except that usually the music, the salsa, would be popping. And it turns out that a lot of Suave's own childhood development, it happened here at this beach because this was where he would hang out with his mom on the weekends and help her sell food.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Suave tells us that he would go off and hustle other stalls' customers and bring them back to his mom. And it's also where he first learned to talk to girls, to take them on walks down to the beach. I mean, it was sweet.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And as they got a little bit older, Suave and his cousin Tony, they started coming here to Orchard Beach on their own for another kind of work. Basically, they were tasked with bringing the ofrendas, the offerings, that were part of his mother's spiritual practice in Santeria.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Then, after Suave went to prison, he says his cousin Tony would come with the offerings alone, and his family would pray for Suave's release. Suave never thought much about it.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
The photos of Suave would be bundled up with fruits, cigars, whatever his mom felt the Orishas would appreciate. She would pray over them, asking the deities in exchange not to forget her son in prison. Suavez says he always obliged. He smiled, he took the photos, he paid to have them printed so his mom could bring them back and do her offerings.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Not because he really believed that the offerings did anything, but because they seemed to give his mom something to believe in. Hope. Do you think that you were afraid to have hope? Because if you believed in it and then it didn't happen?
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Right there. So Suave's pointing to a little indentation in another one of the little bays of Large Orchard Bay.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
We should try and go over there. Yeah. Let's see if we can make our way across. It looks very swampy.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
I mean, hearing Suave say that being out in the middle of the woods is like being in solitary confinement because of the silence. Wow. That blew my mind. Oh, look at a deer. So it just went by. You have deer in the Bronx? We just run into two deer. Walking near us.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Season two of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Mellon makes grants to support visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org. When I founded Futuro, I imagined a home for journalism with radical transparency. I wanted a newsroom where I wasn't the only Latina behind the mic.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
After spotting these beautiful deer running around in the Bronx, we continue walking through the woods towards the bay. We climb some rocks. It's really fun. It kind of feels like we're on an adventure.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
And when we reach the bay, I climb down the rocks. I take off my shoes and I step into the water.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Maybe Suave fears making contact with that old version of himself. The Suave in the photos in that old brown prison uniform. The version of him that he spent so much time trying to heal and leave behind. These seven years that Suave's been at a prison have been a slow process of letting go of the person that he was.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
For Maria, it's also been a time of letting go in terms of her relationship with Suave and the person that he used to be.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
I told Suave, I was like, look, sweetie, I do see you as a full-fledged, established adult who has made it in the world outside of prison and is responsible for making his own decisions. And this is where I had to say, you have to let Suave live his life.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
It seems like Maria is trying to say that when it comes to Suave, she just can't be in so deep anymore.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Maria hears talking about the incident in season one, when Suavez suddenly goes back to prison after being accused of domestic violence. When Maria heard the news, she just started screaming.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Suave's healing and his setbacks and her reaction to them, well, they've actually led to some real tension in her personal life.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Germán saw me have another one of these profoundly emotional reactions to something that was happening with Suave.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Germán is María's husband. He was there the day that she met Suave and has always supported her communication with him over the years. Until recently.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
He was kind of like, this is not cool. Like Suave cannot be coming into our family together.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
That's because for so long, Maria seems to have convinced herself that it was somehow her duty to be there for Suave when any issues came up, like parole or the car situation or when he got sick, even when Suave didn't ask her to. She will walk out of dinner with her family. She will step out to take a phone call during a celebration.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
For the last seven years, we've been following Suavez's life on an almost near daily basis. From Graterford Prison to the streets of the Philadelphia Badlands and all the way to Puerto Rico, we've done and seen a lot of things together. But we haven't yet been to a place that's been in the background for a lot of Suavez's story. Orchard Beach.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Maria says that she always felt that her family was used to it. You know, this is just part of her being a journalist and being really intense about her work. That is, until her son called her out on it recently.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
I remember when Raul said, oh yeah. Mom, there were times when you were talking to me. I was having a conversation with you about something important as an adolescent and Suave would call and you'd go take the call and you'd stop talking to your son. Oh, that cut deep. That definitely cut deep for me. Those are the kinds of things that you don't forget.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
It's led her to reevaluate just how emotionally invested she's been in somebody else's life.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Like you're not walking out on his life, but you're, you cannot lose your life.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Maria has realized that she was so caught up in whatever was going on with Suave that she may have at times disengaged from the needs of her own family. She needs boundaries.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
You cannot lose your family. That is the, I suppose that is the only boundary, right? That I can't lose my husband, my son or my daughter for Suave anymore. That's how deep it is. Like, that's how close it comes.
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Boundaries are actually something that Suave himself had been trying to set with Maria. Finally, they were starting to hear each other. We talk about this a bit in Orchard Beach, huddling around an old picnic table under a shaded tree. I ask him where they are in their friendship right now. Where are you?
Suave
Patience - Ep. 7
Both Suave and I are going to have to make the effort right, to be in it to see what happens next. That means I'm going to have to call and he's going to have to answer. That means he's going to have to call me and I have to answer.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
In January, I meet up with Suave in Atlanta, where I live. Suave's in town to speak at a criminal justice reform conference. Over the last five years that I've been producing Suave, I've gone to Philly a lot, but we've never really hung out in my turf. So we are in front of a Waffle House right in front of Centennial Olympic Park.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
And while he's in town, we've been invited to an artist showcase at the infamous Stanconia Studios. Suave seems really excited.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Stanconia is the most Atlanta of all Atlanta places. I mean, it's just this legendary studio where Outkast recorded a bunch of classics. Honestly, it's pretty iconic, Maria. Everyone from TLC to TI to Ludacris have recorded there.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Yeah, he was, you know. And anyway, so we decide to meet there. And that night, as I'm getting ready to head out, Suave just suddenly stops responding to all my phone calls.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
And it turns out, he did go. But he was out of there so fast, and he just didn't know how to explain it to me. So he just ignored my calls. So I ask him why. I mean, like, what's up? What happened? We had all these plans, and then he just left me hanging.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
And the thing is, you know, a lot of people in Atlanta carry a gun. It's kind of become normal for me. You know, open carry is legal here in Georgia. So I had never really considered that Suave might find it risky or even, like, upsetting until this moment.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
And of course, he has to think about his lifetime parole.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
I mean, think about what he said about the guns. Before he went to prison, he used to be one of these guys, packing, talking bold, just fearless. You know how he is. But now he really can't be that way anymore. The risk is too big. So it's interesting and also even a little confusing. Suave has to live by all these rules, but he also pushes back on them regularly.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Suave, formerly one of the hardest guys on the block at Greaterford Prison, now a doting cat dad.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Later that day in Atlanta, Suave and I sit across from each other at the hotel lobby. He's wearing a cream hoodie with a pair of matching joggers, cream and mint green sneakers, and of course, a Yankees hat. And he tells me a story about a friend from inside who just got out of prison.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
He was able to work out a release without lifetime parole.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
But then the conversation went into some pretty interesting territory.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
You said he came home, he's not on parole. That's dangerous. That really caught my ear.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Oh, that's a loaded sentence. I want to talk a little more about that. Because we've been talking about, you know, how to get you off life in parole.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
So what if you had to come home without parole? Are you saying that you wouldn't be in, that you would be in a worse position? I'm really curious about this.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
For so long, Suave has talked about parole as something getting in the way of his ability to succeed and feeling truly free. Another hurdle, another tie to the past.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
And you know, that's kind of a complicated concept for me to grasp in that moment. I have never heard you say this. This is really shocking for me.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
I have to ask you, is there a part of you that maybe fears getting off of lifetime parole? Let's be real.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
OK, so maybe fear is not the word, but is there a part of you that maybe feels like it's a little safer in this moment for now to stay on lifetime parole?
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Suave found a way to free himself from his cage, only to find himself trapped in a completely new one. As long as he's on parole, he'll never be able to just do what he wants, take a spontaneous trip, drive without looking over his shoulder, even take a little weed gummy for sleep. But what does it mean for Suave that this new cage is also kind of a safety net?
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Is total freedom what he really desires after all? All those years in a jail cell, many of them in solitary confinement. I mean, it has to change you pretty profoundly. And one of the hardest things for Suavez since getting out is navigating relationships.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Suavez's studio apartment is pretty tiny. But after decades in a small cell, Suavez says it felt kind of palatial when he moved in.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
That's next time on Suave. Suave. Suave is a production of Futuro Studios. To binge every episode of Suave Season 2 right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes, subscribe to Futuro Plus. The senior producer, reporter, and host is me, Julieta Martinelli. Our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz. We're edited by Marlon Bishop. Our production managers are Jessica Ellis and Nancy Trujillo.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Our post-production producer is Dan Riveros. Scoring and sound design by Stephanie LeBow. Mixing by Stephanie LeBow, Julia Caruso, and JJ Caruven. Our fact checker is Amy Tardif. Production help from Joaquin Kotler, Juan Diego Ramirez, Nicole Rothwell, Joey Del Valle, Evelyn Fajardo-Alvarez, Glorimar Marquez, and Tasha Sandoval.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Our executive producers are Mariano Josa, Luis Suave Gonzalez, Marlon Bishop, and Maria Garcia. Futuro Media was founded by Maria Hinojosa.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Special thanks to Maggie Freeling, Audrey Quinn, Antonia Serejido, Fernanda Echavarri, Neil Rossini, students at the I Am More program at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Abolitionist Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Season 2 of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Mellon makes grants to support the visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org. Season 2 of Suave was made possible in part by Public Welfare Foundation, catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community-led, restorative, and racially just.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Unlike a prison cell, though, there's a big fluffy bed here. Also, it's kind of Bella's bed. But after sleeping on a three-inch mattress over a metal slab for three decades, he can't really get comfortable on this bed.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
It turns out it's harder than it seems to break some prison habits.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
And Maria, you've offered him some advice that has helped you sleep.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
From Futuro Studios, this is Suave. I'm Julieta Martinelli. In 2017, David Luis Suave Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. This is his story about life after incarceration and the search for the true meaning of freedom. This is season two.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
You're right, because seven years out, Suave is still on parole. And he will be forever. And that's because he has lifetime parole.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Yeah, and he can be so nonchalant about it. I mean, but the reality still is that freedom is a privilege for Suave, and that privilege can be taken away pretty much for anything.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Right. So he's banned forever from visiting anyone in prison that he was incarcerated with, even if it's family.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Yeah, that means that even the most mundane of things that you and I never think of in our daily life can become really, really scary for Suave.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
It's a weekday, and Suave usually takes the SEPTA bus to get to work at Community College of Philadelphia. But today he's got so many errands, it's just not feasible to take the bus.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
It's a sunny day and Suave is riding in his gray Hyundai. He's wearing a gray suit with a black shirt underneath. He's sitting close to the wheel and he's holding it pretty tight.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
The anxiety is so bad that Suave ends up asking a friend to drive him home that night. But there is some hope for the future. Technically, there is some legal recourse that could allow Suave to get off of lifetime parole, even if it's kind of a long shot.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
Commutation just means that the remaining term of his sentence is completely forgiven. But it's not easy to get.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
The Board of Pardons doesn't state just how long after a conviction they'll consider a pardon. They just mention that they do consider the length of time.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
But a report by the Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, who work with clients that are going through this process, confirms that the majority of people who are successful have been out of prison for about five to 10 years, depending on the offense.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
It might be impossible, but maybe, just maybe, would that feel like true freedom?
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
But Suave doesn't always enjoy getting together with his prison friends. Part of it is parole, and it can be risky to be around people that are drinking or smoking weed around you. But that's not really it. It's because it can get complicated for him emotionally.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
After telling me that, Suavez sits with this thought for a minute. Then he backtracks. It's not about not wanting to see the guys.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
So former juvenile lifers like Suave, they're all on parole. But most people who go to prison, they're going for shorter terms. So they're actually coming out with a clean slate after their sentence. And many of Suave's prison buddies don't really have to worry about parole. After decades of supporting each other in prison, the roles that guide their lives are now very different.
Suave
Parole & The Pursuit of Happiness - Ep. 2
It sounds harsh. But I wonder, what does it feel like to know the people on the outside can't ever really understand how you feel? And then Suave's prison friends, who are supposed to understand, well, they're moving on themselves.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Then we're hearing a lot that he had a lot of girlfriends, including a nun. Yes, love him, love him. And this is essentially all the reasons why we came to Puerto Rico.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
In this one, there are pictures of his cousins playing high school ball. There's photos from his uncle's wedding. I mean, really, it's just showing all of these things, these memories, these moments that Suave missed out on because he was in prison. Bobby, can you just say how you're feeling at this moment? Emotional. What's going on for you?
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
They said that she liked to run off with her friends and that the family got really worried that she was going to get in some kind of trouble, you know, on the streets. And so they were working parents. They didn't have a lot of resources. And so they did what they thought was best at the time. And the thing is, Suave had never heard this story. His mom had never told him.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Now, over the years, Suave always really made it clear to me how much he respected his mom for doing it all alone as a single mom. In terms of his father, he only knows his name, and it's a painful topic. We really haven't talked about it. And Suave was told pretty early on in life that he and his sister, his twin sister Eva, were the result of a sexual assault.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
So even without the support of her children's fathers, the thing is, is that Suave's mom made it work. She was doing it in her own way. She had her own parental philosophy about how you raise kids who need to be ready for the world.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
I will never forget when Suave told me about the time that he first tried heroin. This was a drug that he was selling on the street corners, right, when he got into the confrontation that landed him in prison for murder. But, you know, when he was younger, he hadn't tried it, and then he did with his mom. And he wasn't even a teenager yet.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
So, of course, as a mother myself, I had a really hard time trying to reconcile this, right? I had to really try to come at this without any judgment and understand where Suave's mom was coming from. Because also, I mean, she is kind of above criticism for Suave, and I didn't really want to kind of go there.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
But now here in Puerto Rico with Suave's family, and I'm hearing more about his mother, I'm starting to understand that she was somebody who was suffering through a tremendous amount of trauma as a little girl, you know, as not even a teenager herself. And she had to make her life happen on her own terms.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
So I'm finally getting the picture that she was someone who found a way to get by in a world that had not been kind to her.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Take the story about Suave's aunt, his tia, who they say was beaten by her husband in the United States, right, in Florida. When the family found out that this man had lifted a hand to her, the cousins say they boarded a flight to Miami and showed up the next day.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
They threatened the husband, took her out of the home, and literally put her on the plane right back to Puerto Rico, no questions asked.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Suave, when you talk about, you know, when you get out of prison in 2017, you remember the first year or two, you had such a desire to bring your family together. And I was always like, I don't see it.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And, you know, this was really hard to understand why Suave was so dead set in reuniting with his siblings when, yo, they didn't even show up. They didn't visit. They didn't write. I mean, how come he wasn't angry? And this is something that, honestly, I didn't understand. But now being here, I think what you wanted so desperately to make happen in Philly was really... You're crying now.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And now it turns out, Suave... Here in Puerto Rico, in fact, you have found that family.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Suave's whole family has deep roots in santería, and santería is a traditional spiritual practice that It's originally from Africa. It's also known as the Yoruba religion. It's very secretive because it had to be because people who followed this tradition were shunned. They were persecuted. I mean, really, it's a religion of survivors. So at the very end is when Belu finally says, um, so...
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
You want to see our little room upstairs? So we go upstairs, and there's an unmarked door right there. Pelu opens it up for us, and it is a full-blown santeria lectura room, a place where readings happen, a place where you pray. So you're seeing, for example, the deities. You're seeing a Bible open. You see cigars, candles that are lit right now.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And at that moment, I say, look, is there a chance that I can meet the Santera who comes to do work in your house? And so Suave's cousin says, let me see if I can make a phone call to the Santera.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
It's rare to see Suave stop in his tracks, but this is what happened. Like, he looked at this person and he was so blown away by the fact that she looked so much like his mother. He got so emotional. And when he finally pulled it together to say hello, they just hugged really tight.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
What are you taking away from this whole experience of 24 hours with Suave?
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Millie tells me that she's really happy that Suavez found his family after so many years apart and found them right here in the same house he spent time in when he was a kid.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Madrina Evelyn told Suave that he should cleanse himself in the waters of his birthplace to leave behind on the island everything he no longer wishes to carry.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
He's taking off his socks. He's really... He's fighting this, but he's coming.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
In the Yoruba practice, the ocean is Yemaya and the river is Oshun. And so we are meeting both waters.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
as I'm pouring this. Feels good, people. I would say that this is water that is to be used to cleanse you, Suave. The message from your mom is that you are safe. The message from your grandmother is that you are safe, you are with people who love you. They love you so much that they don't even know you and they're preparing cleansing baths for you because they want you to heal.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And know that you have angels that are watching over you. Your mother was a rebel spirit. Your grandfather was a rebel spirit. Your grandmother was a rebel spirit. And you'll fight, even with the people who love you most. But guess what? We're not going anywhere, Suave. Those of us who know you and love you and have witnessed what you have done with your life, we're not going anywhere.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Because, like, the truth is, things have been really touch and go between me and Suave for a while now, like a couple of months. And this trip was definitely at a low point. You know, we hadn't really been speaking before we left. But I really wanted us to have a good time and for this to really be about Suave and him reconnecting with his island.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
So the last time Suave was here, he says that he was like seven or eight years old. He'd spent some summers with his grandfather. But that time, he stayed almost a whole year. So he's eager to see everything all at once, in a way. But so far, it just doesn't feel like the Puerto Rico that he remembers.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Let me see if this sand is hot. Yeah, there is. So we drop our bags at our hotel. We walk across the street, literally, and we're on the beach now, just in time for the sunset. And honestly, this had been a dream of mine to witness Suave encountering the ocean in Puerto Rico for the first time since he was a child. And yeah, he walks out to the water.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And so even though we had been fighting, Suave and me, like not talking, it was kind of tense. La verdad es que all of that started to melt away. And it was just so sweet, you know, me dio tanta ternura to see him on the island of Puerto Rico, like feeling free and looking like so happy.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Suave doesn't have a lot of communication with his U.S.-based family. You know, his mom passed away when he was in prison. And he just doesn't talk to the rest of his sisters all that often. They live out of state and they're all dealing with their own challenges in life. And since he's gotten out, actually, they've only seen each other a handful of times.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
So there's been this loneliness, a loneliness for family, a longing for this sense of familia.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And so are we. Because for years, we've heard about the love and appreciation that Suave feels for his mom, Saro. And I've always felt that Saro, in many ways, is like the key to understanding so many things about Suave. Because in some ways, I think Suave wanted to emulate her. But one thing I do know is that Sarah, she was a complicated person.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Season two of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Mellon makes grants to support visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
In her early 20s, Suavez says that she moved to the Bronx after yet another relationship where she ended up being a victim of domestic violence. But they would go back to PR.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And that's where I got that piece. That piece of valuing family ties. So that when Suave got out of prison, one of his dreams was like to put his family back together again, kind of like the way he remembered it, the way he imagined it during those 31 years in prison.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And Suave has long wondered about his mom's past, what she was like growing up, the things she didn't talk about. But you have to remember that Suave was in prison for 31 years. He was the baby, and he's 55 now. So he never got to ask those questions like, you know, sit with your mom and look through photo albums or hear the funny anecdotes.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
This is all new. And that's because, you know, Santurce has now become a hotspot for gentrification. Like, there's a high rise in the middle of all of these tiny houses.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And it's actually Suave's cousin, Pelú. He calls him Davidcito, little David, even though Suave is a full 55-year-old man now.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
This little house here. Suave's family home is lime green. Yes, a lime green with a white picket fence. And there are flowers everywhere. We meet Suave's other cousin, her name is Milly, and she's just bubbling over with warmth and laughter.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
And Suave cuts to the chase fairly quickly. He tells them that he wants to hear about his mother and about his grandfather, the man who he actually always considered his father.
Suave
A Homecoming - Ep. 6
Not one. Suave always wanted to have a photo of his grandfather, but Mili says they just can't find any. And for Suave, this is like a gut punch.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
One day in November, Maria and I come down to Philly to visit Suave. Suave is working with young people as a support coach of I Am More. That's a program for formerly incarcerated students at Community College of Philadelphia.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Being here just a few minutes, it's clear that Suave is that teacher. You know the one. He's got dozens of Jordans in all the colorways. He rocks a fly-ass suit with a Yankees cap to work.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
So today we are at Suave's school and we're really trying to record a catch-up interview with Suave.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
But before we get there, let's start with happier times. We're standing outside Columbia University's historic Lowe Library in New York City. It's October 20th, 2022, and spirits are high. Most of the team behind the Suave podcast is here, including journalist Mariano Rosa.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Yeah. I mean, and now here you are in Philly sitting in his classroom and he's so excited for you to meet his students.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
But before you can really get into this further with Suave, his phone rings.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
I mean, it's, like, nonstop. Yeah, I mean, every 15 minutes, it just goes off.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
So Suave later tells me that one of his jobs when he was in prison was actually working the ice cream at commissary, which he may or may not have skimmed a little to sell on the side. And now his friend Freddie has his old gig.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Nearly seven years out of prison, Suave is still deeply involved with the prison system. Maybe even more in new and different ways than he ever was before.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
That night, November 20th, 2023, we celebrate the anniversary of Suave's release from prison at Freddy and Tony's. It's this little Puerto Rican joint in North Philly, the neighborhood where Suave grew up. He has a virgin piña colada, mofongo, and a steak and cebollado.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
And Suave, a man who, for a long time, never imagined that he would ever leave a prison cell, let alone be here at the ceremony for the Pulitzer Prize.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Suave did the unthinkable. He beat a life sentence, but he's not yet free. Coming up on this season of Suave.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
I just don't want to see you back locked up, Suave. Like, that scares the fucking shit out of me. That's coming up on season two of Suave. Suave is a production of Futuro Studios. To binge every episode of Suave Season 2 right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes, subscribe to Futuro Plus. The senior producer, reporter, and host is me, Julieta Martinelli. Our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
We walk up the iconic Columbia steps, through the doors, past statues of Zeus and Apollo. It feels like standing in a Greek temple. None of the other journalists here invited their sources to the ceremony. In a sea of black bow ties, Suave is rocking this bright blood red tie. One by one, the winners are announced. They called him suave, like the shampoo, but whatever.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
We're edited by Marlon Bishop. Our production managers are Jessica Ellis and Nancy Trujillo. Our post-production producer is Dan Riveros. Scoring and sound design by Stephanie LaValle. Mixing by Stephanie LaValle, Julia Caruso, and JJ Caruven. Our executive producers are Maria Hinojosa, Luis Suave Gonzalez, Marlon Bishop, and Maria Garcia. Futuro Media was founded by Mariano Rosa.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Special thanks to Maggie Freeling, Audrey Quinn, Antonia Serejido, Fernanda Echavarri, Neil Rossini, students at the I Am More program at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Abolitionist Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Season 2 of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Mellon makes grants to support the visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org. Season 2 of Suave was made possible in part by Public Welfare Foundation, catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community-led, restorative, and racially just.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
In case you're interested, here's a little more of the Mr. Pulitzer song we played earlier. It's performed by Suave's friend, Joey DeVille.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Hey, Suave listeners, it's Julieta here. Are you tired of waiting each week for new episodes to come out? Well, you can listen to the whole season of Suave right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes by joining Futuro Plus. And you'll be helping support the independent journalism that we do here at Futuro. Join now at futuromediagroup.org backslash join plus.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
On stage, we hold hands, and Suave holds the award. Suave decides immediately he's gonna be the one to keep it. After dinner, there's a reception. There's lots of very polite mingling happening over wine. Pretty boring, to be honest. So we sneak off outside for some fun of our own. Right on the Columbia steps, we sip on our drinks. Maybe even a little joint gets sparked.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
In this moment, everything is perfect. A man who was in prison for more than 30 years just won the highest award in journalism. That was the night that Mr. Pulitzer was born.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Mr. Pulitzer living his best life. It's happily ever after, right? From Futuro Studios, this is Suave. I'm Julieta Martinelli. In 2017, David Luis Suave Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
This is his story about life after incarceration and the search for the true meaning of freedom. This is season two. Maria, how are you?
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Yes, of course. So you are legendary journalist, Mariano Rosa, the host of Latino USA and the founder of Futuro Media.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Yeah. Hi, so I'm Julieta. I've been covering criminal justice pretty much all of my career. And I'm actually the co-producer of season one of Suaves. So I was always there in the background reporting and writing for the show. And you might have even heard me here and there in that season, most notably on episode six while running down the street. Like running. Threw me off.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Well, clearly he lives in that house. and we should hurry the fuck up and get out of here.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Yeah, and you know, I applied for the job to work on season one because the prison system has always been really real for me, right? It's always been a part of my life. I grew up around a lot of people that were affected by the carceral system. And, you know, one of the first memories I have is of my dad being accused of a crime.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
And my mom wanting to separate us from all of that and bringing us to the U.S. And here I was undocumented. I grew up in a community around a lot of undocumented people. So heavy police presence. You know, I've seen a lot of people lose their freedom. And I think that really taught me that people are very complex, that people can be good and do bad things.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
And I don't think that we're always telling the story about those gray areas, right? And so the story we're telling this season, it's a little different from last time.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
It's about the long shadow of prison, about the challenges that no one warns you about when you get out, and about how after spending the majority of his life locked up, freedom for Suave has not been everything he imagined it would be.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
So, you know, Maria, when season one ended in 2021, Suave was focused on starting his new life in Philadelphia. And I think we could have stopped documenting there. I mean, we definitely thought about it, right?
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Early on in reporting, I asked Suave what he thought this season should be about. But as I've been thinking about writing season two, in season one, we ended with you really wanting like some stability, wanting to get a stable job, like a relationship. That's kind of where you were when we ended. I see you laughing and it's killing me.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
So my question is... If I use this tape here in the episode one, what does Suave want to achieve in season two?
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
This is the voice of a man who's found himself at the end of his rope. A man who survived more than 30 years in a max security prison, got out, became successful, built what many would consider is a dream life. And now, seven years later, was risking it all.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
I think that the juvenile lifer decision is... The live podcast recordings are a big success.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
Yeah. And maybe it's fed into his tendency that he already has to be a little bit of a diva, for lack of a better word.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
So Joey DeVille, a younger friend of Suave that he mentors, he told us a story about one of those moments that Suave had at a restaurant where they were eating.
Suave
Roses and Manure - Ep. 1
So what you're saying is, like, if a white man comes in and, like, doesn't like what he's being served, nobody's going to call him a diva for complaining?
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Bro, are you even an abolitionist? They asked you to give them a week before you contacted the police on someone who's on parole. And you couldn't even do that? Do you believe in reform? All of this to promote your lame podcast? You're a desperate clown. Stop it. You sound like a fucking crybaby. Grow up. This is not what an abolitionist does.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Just a few hours later, all of Suave's posts about the car situation are completely wiped from his Instagram account. The next day, I finally get on the phone with Suave. And his story is different. I wanted to know what happened after you posted the stuff.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
The next time we talk, it's clear to me that the negative responses from some of the folks in the movement have really gotten under his skin.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Okay. The way he's talking, I mean, my skin was crawling. I... I just, it was so hard for me to hear the things that he was saying.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
I think it's so hard because you don't know how to help, how to be there for him. You know, he's pulled away. I feel like he's spiraling, but he's also an adult and he doesn't want us to be there. So what do you do? One day, I get an early morning text.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Suave says he's quitting. He's done with the podcast. No explanation. He's just done.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Things are tense, but I ask him if it's okay that I schedule a meeting with him and everybody else on the team so that we can at least try and resolve things or at least get an answer as to why he's trying to quit. Suave accepts.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Suave, just let me know if you can hear me. Yeah, I can hear you. My heart is breaking because of everything that's happened in your life over the last month. I just wanted to say.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
From Futuro Studios, this is Suave. I'm Julieta Martinelli. In 2017, David Luis Suave Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. This is a story about life after incarceration and the search for the true meaning of freedom. This is season two. Today's episode, the car drama.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
He calls me that night. I don't record our conversation, but he basically says that he changed his mind and he never really wanted to quit.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
But that cryptic thing he said in the meeting, I don't know how much time I'm going to be alive. I mean, what is he thinking of doing? And again, it sounds like he's ready to throw everything, everything away, even life itself.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Over the winter holidays, the Futuro office is closed. Everything is on pause. Until a couple of days after Christmas, when I get a text message from Suave. I call him immediately.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
A little over two months since this whole car ordeal began, Suave finally gets the news that they found his car. He says he got a phone call from the Philadelphia Police Department. His car was at an impound and he needed to come pick it up. When he got there, they told him that they had arrested a male driver, a name that he doesn't recognize. And that was it. Case closed.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
A little before the car was found, Maria and I actually decided to go visit Suave in person. Frankly, we were just really worried about him and we wanted to make sure that he was okay. In Philly, I meet Maria at Suave's studio. Almost every inch of the walls is covered in paintings. And there's a new one that catches our eye.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
I'm looking at this painting and I'm like, what is going on here? There are three monks who are sitting cross-legged on the floor and they look completely at peace. And then in between them, there's this empty space.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
It's the first time that we've heard something like self-reflection from Suave about how all of this triggered him and how all of this led to his reaction. And, you know, after weeks of conversations about dying or about going back to prison, I mean, at this point, it is truly just comforting to see him in the flesh, alive, and not in prison.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Over the next several hours, we find ourselves locked in Suave's tiny studio. We set up our chairs around a tiny wooden nightstand while Suave's three cats nuzzle our ankles. And we just talk.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
You said something yesterday that I think is probably in the top three most scariest things that you've ever said. So when you said yesterday, on the sixth anniversary of your release, that you had actually envisioned and prepared for your return, that you knew that there was going to be no coming back, this has me terrified.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
No, here's what I think. I think we have to do a radical change. That's what I think. And I think that. What's a radical change? Get the fuck out of Philly. Stop being in this place.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Bella, we're going to New York. You're talking like you can just pack up and go to prison. You don't have to take shit with you. So my thing is, I understand you.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
And the truth is, he's right. I mean, I don't understand. As much as I know Suave, our lives really are incredibly different, right? I wasn't that little boy who grew up in pretty extreme poverty, who experienced a lot of violence around him as part of his daily life. You know, I don't live with the trauma of decades in prison anymore.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
What is going on? Like, seriously, I don't know. I mean, you tell me it's an emergency.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
So, of course, I feel like I'm helping him by trying to offer some solutions. But the thing is, for Suave, just walking away after this kind of violation, kind of just saying, no, no, no, no, don't worry. I'm just going to turn the other cheek. I mean, that's really hard for him.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
We talk for hours. It isn't an easy conversation, but it's good to talk. I don't like things which is awkward and weird and like this is intense, but it's like, it's love. And I don't want it to end on some Philly Channel 12, whatever news.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
No, I did not. Oh, okay. So today I'm getting things ready for a trip. And then I get this call from Suave. And yeah, he had texted me earlier. He said that we needed to talk. He said it was an emergency. Right. I remember you told me and you showed me a picture and it looked it looked like they had sideswiped you.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
In the end, we sit in comforting silence. Things seem to be cool. Everybody's chilled out. And then Maria pulls out something from her purse.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
You are. That's the whole idea. It's putting a protective circle around you, Suave.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
A protective circle around Suave. I keep trying to gauge how Suave is really feeling. I know that he's experienced this before, at the hands of some very important women in his life.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Who saved you from prison? Oh, your mother and your grandmother and your aunt, who were haciendo limpias todo el tiempo.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Especially his mother, who was a very dedicated santera when she was alive. Santería is an ancestral spiritual practice from the Caribbean, with roots in Africa. Suave's mother taught him how to survive. And according to Suave's brother, Tony, she always believed, with everything she had, that Suave would one day be free.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
So much so that you may remember from season one that she forbade anyone from ever saying in her presence or her home that Suave was going to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
And so maybe, maybe the best thing for Suave actually is to get the hell out of Philly. And so right there and then, I'm like, look, we got to take a trip. We got to go to this place that in a lot of ways is the beginning of Suave's story. The beginning of this cycle of trauma and loneliness and abandonment that ultimately gets Suave to prison.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
It's a place that is really important because it's the place where Suave's mother was born. Puerto Rico.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Suave is a production of Futuro Studios. To binge every episode of Suave Season 2 right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes, subscribe to Futuro Plus. The senior producer, reporter, and host is me, Julieta Martinelli. Our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz. We're edited by Marlon Bishop. Our production managers are Jessica Ellis and Nancy Trujillo. Our post-production producer is Dan Riveros.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Scoring and sound design by Stephanie LeBow. Mixing by Stephanie LeBow, Julia Caruso, and JJ Caruven. Our fact checker is Amy Tardif. Production help from Joaquin Kotler, Juan Diego Ramirez, Nicole Rothwell, Joey Del Valle, Evelyn Fajardo-Alvarez, Glorimar Marquez, and Tasha Sandoval. Our executive producers are Maria Hinojosa, Luis Suave Gonzalez, Marlon Bishop, and Maria Garcia.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Futura Media was founded by Mariano Hossa. Special thanks to Maggie Freeling, Audrey Quinn, Antonia Cerejido, Fernanda Echavarri, Neil Rossini, students at the I Am More program at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Abolitionist Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
So Suave tells me that a neighbor had backed up into his car while parking on the street a few weeks ago. And I don't think it's very serious, right? Like I think he maybe needed a new bumper, a fender. And Suave tells me he decided to handle the repairs himself since his neighbor didn't have insurance and he just wanted to resolve the whole thing.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Season 2 of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Mellon makes grants to support the visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org. Season 2 of Suave was made possible in part by Public Welfare Foundation, catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community-led, restorative, and racially just.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Hey, Suave listeners, it's Julieta here. Are you tired of waiting each week for new episodes to come out? Well, you can listen to the whole season of Suave right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes by joining Futuro Plus. And you'll be helping support the independent journalism that we do here at Futuro. Join now at futuromediagroup.org backslash join plus.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Shortly after this happened, Suavez says he was at a justice reform event in Philly, and he was talking about what happened with a woman. She's an activist who was also formerly incarcerated, and he just knew her casually from these kind of events. Suavez says the woman told him that her boyfriend worked at a body shop and that he could fix his car on the side for pretty cheap.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
After about a week of not hearing anything, Suave says he begins to call the woman who took the car to the shop. And, like, nothing. So he begins to worry.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
The judge writes that the woman is, quote, having a mental breakdown, and I do not want her to go back to jail, which is what will happen if you report this now.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Suave tells me that the woman who allegedly took his car had been helping that judge reach voters during their election campaign. And there's a video on the woman's Instagram actually telling people to vote for that judge. So Suave is already upset that he doesn't even know where his car is. And now, I mean, no, no, he does not take this text message well at all.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
So he calls the police and reports his car stolen. Over the next few days, Suave and I talk on the phone often. Are you there?
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
As time passes and there's no news about the car, I start to hear an edge in Suave's voice.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
I have never heard Suave talk like this before, like with this tone. And Suave saying these particular things about people getting hurt. I'm like, what?
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Yeah, I agree with you. I think it was kind of shocking to hear him say that he doesn't care if people get locked up. Just because Suave, to me, is kind of like the epitome of someone who actually does give a fuck. You know, somebody who's dedicated so much of his life to getting people out of prison. Someone who actually really believes in second chances.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
I mean, it is not an easy thing to hear, right? But also, the idea that his car might have been stolen by someone that he knows and trusts, by someone in the reform space that he's in, I mean, I think this hits him hard. And then I think it hits doubly hard for him that this judge is basically telling him, wait, don't do anything about this. Just keep waiting.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Now, that's hard, but at the same time, I'm kind of looking at Suave like, seriously, all of this, like over a car?
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
I'm good, I'm good. A week ago, everything kind of went crazy in your life.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Season two of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Mellon makes grants to support visionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
But hold on a second, Suave. Hold on. I need you to take a pause for a second. Like, what are you going to do?
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Suave says he's going to go on social media until everyone would happen. Now, you have to understand that the reform space, particularly in Philly, is pretty small in the sense that everybody kind of knows everybody. And many of the people in this space are abolitionists. They believe that issues should be resolved by the community, not by the police.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
And he's about to go online and tell everyone that he doesn't care if the woman is having a mental health crisis. He doesn't care if she's on probation or parole or even if she goes to prison.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
I'm sorry. You're not going to like what I'm about to say. This dude, this like amazing dude is prepared to die because of a fucking car. Don't tell me you're prepared to die for a fucking car. Don't tell me that. Are you still there? Yeah, I'm there. And so in this moment, seriously, like I am legitimately terrified for Suave and his safety.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
How did we go from a car theft to Suave saying he's ready to die for this? For a car? I mean, I just don't understand. Before you do anything, we need to have a conversation just so we understand what is happening, the team. Are you in agreement with that? Yeah. Okay.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
So we decide to throw an emergency meeting. At that time, I was actually on the first vacation that I'd taken in years, camping somewhere in the middle of the desert. So I drove an hour just for a tiny bit of signal. Eventually, all of our team's faces pop up on my Zoom screen.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
This is happening in Suave's life right now, while we are in the middle of producing Suave Season 2. I mean, Suave is a very public person. He's about to do this publicly all over his social media.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
One of her newer production assistants cuts in to offer some words of advice.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Then Suave disappears. The next couple days are honestly pretty rough. I hurry back home to Atlanta. And the whole time, I'm just thinking about Suave.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
And, you know... I hate this motherly instinct thing, especially when it comes to Suave. But this is for real one of those times where I really wish that he would share his location with me or that I just had another way of calling someone to just check in on him because I'm freaking out.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Yeah, and I can't get a hold of him either. But I know that he said that he'd be dropping those posts soon. So I set a notification alert on my phone. And I just wait. It's not long before I get an alert. I run to Instagram, and there it is. Suave's first public post regarding his car. I click on the video.
Suave
Let The Chips Fall - Ep. 5
Suave records his video in selfie mode. He's wearing a black leather jacket. I can tell instantly that he's worked up. Suave's media blitz is in full effect, background music and all. I scroll through several videos. They're all very similar. I keep going back to check. I keep looking for new comments. And I see that Suave's post is starting to receive some criticism.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Suave remembers meeting Frank Ross in the early 90s. That was just a few years into Suave's lifetime prison sentence. Suave was in his early 20s then. He initially didn't pay much mind to Frank. Frank was in his late 50s, and Suave says he always used to carry a notebook around. But Suave did notice that no one ever really messed with Frank. Frank would go on to become really important to him.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
But for lifers, even that would have been better than the nightmare of dying in prison. For most of his sentence, Suabe thought he knew only one thing for certain, that the only way he would make it out of prison was in a box.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
When the Supreme Court ruled that juvenile lifers, like Suave, could be resentenced, it revived hope for many others in prison. Not just those who were convicted as juveniles, like Suave, but also those who were serving life, like Frank. Maybe the laws would change for them too. But Suave knew that as the years passed, their hope was waning.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
The thing is, someone like Frank is operating between two lines. Too sick for prison, but not sick enough for the parole board to grant compassionate release. With no real timeline on basically anything. It feels like an extra layer of cruelty.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
A few weeks later, I'm visiting Suave in Philly. Maria was not able to join us for this trip, but I get a chance to tag along with Suave on a visit to Frank's nephew, Robert Reason. Sometimes Frank will send Suave packages through him, and today, one's come in.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
we knock on the door of a corner row home in North Philadelphia. Frank's nephew, Robert Reason, is a pretty serious man. He's in his 60s, about Suave's height, bald with broad shoulders and really strong arms. He hands Suave a thick, sealed yellow envelope. It's a package from Frank. Do you mind giving us five minutes? Oh, you're cooking.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
So we'd agreed to an interview today, but Robert Reason stands in the doorway, arms crossed. He says he doesn't have time to talk, but he does agree to let us return in the evening for a few minutes. Outside, standing on a street corner in the Badlands, Suave can't wait to start opening the envelope.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
The wrapping is unlike anything I've ever seen before. There's about 30 pages of writing front and back. Each carefully written page is protected by a blank page below and above. They cradle the writing the way that you would wrap your arms around someone you love. Those pages are then wrapped in newspaper and folded neatly like a present, and then once more.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
All that extra paper makes the package heavy, nearly $12 worth of mail. Now, that may not sound like a lot to you, but it's a fortune to someone like Frank who can no longer work a prison job for a few cents an hour. It's evident that this package means a lot to Frank.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
The package contains a short story that Frank hopes to publish soon. It's called The Pardon. Suave turns to the acknowledgement page in the beginning.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Suave is one of a number of formerly incarcerated speakers reading at tonight's show. He's introduced to the stage by the show's producer, Kiara Alegría-Judis. She's a Pulitzer Prize-winning Philly native best known for writing the movie In the Heights.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
So he dedicated this story to you. We come back to visit Frank's nephew later that evening. It's already dark. Robert welcomes us inside, and he looks more relaxed.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
So it turns out Robert is his wife's full-time caretaker. She had a stroke last year and she needs a lot of help nowadays. He says that he worries a lot about her and his uncle Frank. How old were you when he was locked up?
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
No one expected Frank to ever go to prison. He'd been successful working construction and even had bought some property.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Robert says he's ready to assume responsibility for his uncle. The thing is, he kind of has to.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
And what makes all of this even harder is not only does Frank have cancer, his nephew Robert, he does too.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Robert says that his illness is terminal. He knows he will die. He's just scared of doing so before Frank is able to get out.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Robert is fighting time on the outside just as much as Frank is on the inside in a system renowned for its slowness. That pressure of trying to help and not knowing what else you could actually do is mentally exhausting for Suave too.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
But as much as Suave has whittled down his phone list, the prison system remains present in so many aspects of Suave's life. That re-entry program that he runs, the art he makes with remnants of his old prison uniforms and his paperwork, the jail program that he's helping the college start.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
A few days later, Suave talked to Frank on the phone. He called to tell me about it and he sounded really upset.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
And more broadly, Suave hasn't given up on fighting to reform the system that he lived in for more than 30 years, even though pushing up against the prison system often feels like pushing a rock up a hill. But then, something happened that tested all of his conviction and commitment to the prison reform movement and put his very freedom and life itself into question.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Long before Suave read Maria's memoir in his cell or was able to read her Christmas cards, long before he wrote letters home and before he became a published author behind bars, young Suave was completely illiterate. It didn't really bother him much then, or at least he acted like it didn't, until he ended up in solitary confinement. No phone calls, no visitors.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
That's next time on Suave. Suave is a production of Futuro Studios. To binge every episode of Suave Season 2 right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes, subscribe to Futuro Plus. The senior producer, reporter, and host is me, Julieta Martinelli. Our associate producer is Liliana Ruiz. We're edited by Marlon Bishop. Our production managers are Jessica Ellis and Nancy Trujillo.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Our post-production producer is Dan Riveros. Scoring and sound design by Stephanie LeBow. Mixing by Stephanie LeBow, Julia Caruso, and JJ Caruven. Our executive producers are Maria Hinojosa, Luis Suave Gonzalez, Marlon Bishop, and Maria Garcia. Futuro Media was founded by Mariano Hossa.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Special thanks to Maggie Freeling, Audrey Quinn, Antonia Cerejido, Fernanda Echavarri, Neil Rossini, students at the I Am More program at the Community College of Philadelphia, the Abolitionist Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Season 2 of Suave was made possible by the Mellon Foundation.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Mellon makes grants to support divisionaries and communities that unlock the power of the arts and humanities to help connect us all. More at Mellon.org. Season 2 of Suave was made possible in part by Public Welfare Foundation, catalyzing transformative approaches to justice that are community-led, restorative, and racially just.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
All he really had were these letters that his mom would send him with news from back home. Letters he couldn't read. Until then, he'd always had someone on the cell block willing to read them to him and write back for a pack of cigarettes. But solitary was really different. And that was when he thought of Frank, that older guy that was always walking around with a notebook, writing God knows what.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Hey, Suave listeners, it's Julieta here. Are you tired of waiting each week for new episodes to come out? Well, you can listen to the whole season of Suave right now, plus exclusive bonus episodes by joining Futuro Plus. And you'll be helping support the independent journalism that we do here at Futuro. Join now at futuromediagroup.org backslash join plus. It's a hot summer day in New York.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Now, it's time to pay Frank back. And that means Suave confronting his own mortality. From Futuro Studios, this is Suave. I'm Julieta Martinelli. In 2017, David Luis Suave Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
This is a story about life after incarceration and the search for the true meaning of freedom. This is Season 2. On this episode, the brothers left behind.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
That's because Suave has made it a priority to stay connected with his brothers on the inside. Although he's busier than ever now and can no longer give them his full attention, there's certain phone calls he never misses, especially Frank's.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
And so it was by pure luck when Frank called Suave one day to say hello. And you, Maria, just happened to be there.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Before those 43 years in prison, Frank had a whole life. He had a wife and kids, a home and a job. Then in his late 40s, he was convicted of killing a man during a business dispute.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Including a young, rebellious Puerto Rican kid who had just started serving a life sentence.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
And today, Suave is making a dream come true. He's been invited to read a poem on stage at an off-Broadway play. Though Suave is a published author, it's not actually his writing he'll be debuting. He's actually reading a poem by someone that's really special to him.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Frank gave him 20 words a day, then 40, and so on. Back on the block, Suave says that Frank would walk by his cell every day. He would check on his progress. He would look over his assignments. It was kind of like having a private tutor. And the thing is, Frank didn't ask for anything in return, except that Suave actually try.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Suave says Frank was one of the first people to ever really have faith in him besides his mother.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Suave always thought that he would spend the rest of his life around Frank, and both would die at Greaterford. Though there are no more daily visits or walks around the yard, that bond is still there.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Long ago, Suave remembers Frank being diagnosed with cancer. It was right around the time that Suave was fighting to get out of prison. When he finally got home, Frank told him not to worry about it, to focus on restarting his life, that everything was under control. But it wasn't.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
The state of Pennsylvania offers the chance to apply for something called compassionate release. Basically, it's a legal process that allows someone who is gravely ill to be released from prison to their family for care. Essentially, you're basically being let out to go home and die.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
No, Maria, it's not. Actually, in 2022, the investigative team at Spotlight PA reported that over the prior 13-year period, only 31 applicants had actually been granted their freedom. To die, essentially. Other applicants died in prison while waiting for an answer.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Suave has been working on getting Frank's writing up online, on a website that he hopes will help Frank's petition for compassionate release. But the thing is, even though Frank says he has two cancers, the state of Pennsylvania still doesn't consider him sick enough to apply. He'll have to wait until he's basically dying to have a shot at it.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Salim is a former juvenile lifer, like Suave. And he was also a mentee of Frank's and several others in prison. And he thinks a lot about what it means to die inside.
Suave
Old Head - Ep. 4
Salim now leads a special program to help people like Frank try and get compassionate release.