How Jason Flom Went From A&R Hitmaker To Getting The Innocent Out Of Prison

Jason Flom is best known for his career in the music industry as the record executive behind the careers of artists like Skid Row, Stone Temple Pilots, Lorde, Katy Perry and many others.

But much of Flom's energy these days goes not to music but to getting innocent people out of prison. Speaking with Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke, Flom explains the epiphany that sent him down his current path.

"It was the story of a kid named Steven Lennon, who was serving 15 years to life for a nonviolent, first-offense cocaine possession charge in a maximum security prison in New York," Flom recalls. "This kid was 32 years old. I was 32. He had been in prison for eight years. I had been sober at the point for almost eight years, and I realized that could have been me."

(Steven's harsh sentence was a direct result of the draconian Rockefeller drug laws.)

Flom noted that Steven's mother, Shirley Lennon, was trying to get him clemency and had received letters of support from the trial judge, the prison warden and even Geraldine Ferraro, whose own son had been convicted of cocaine possession and sentenced to house arrest.

Flom set about contacting Shirley to talk to her personally about the case. He offered to hire a lawyer for her, but she said they had exhausted their appeals and were out of options.

He called the only criminal defense lawyer he knew, Bob Kalina, who represented Stone Temple Pilots and Skid Row — "they were getting arrested like weekly back then" — and Kalina agreed to read the trial transcripts as a favor. He eventually agreed to take on the case, pro bono.

Six months later, Flom, Shirley and Kalina were in a courtroom in Malone, New York. Steven was brought before the judge "in shackles," Flom recalls, and after some discussion the judge set Steven free.

"They sent the kid home and I was like, 'Well, it seems like maybe I have a superpower that I didn't know about. And if I have it I'm damn sure going to use it,'" Flom decided.

He says nothing compares to the feeling of helping another person in such a profound way.

"I've had a lot of number one record," he adds. "I've been super lucky in my career ... but none of them compares to walking one guy out of prison. That's the difference between happiness and joy."

Flom is a founding board member of the Innocence Project and cohost and creator of the Wrongful Conviction podcast series. He was also awarded the social impact award at this year's iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.

Wrongful Conviction has been credited with helping to free "close to two dozen people. It's also inspired legislators in three different states that we know of to change laws to make the system a little bit fairer and better for everyone."

Watch the full conversation via the player above! In the latter part, Jason discusses some of his recollections of being a full-time A&R and working with numerous iconic artists.