39 - Alethea Wallace: When The System Takes Someone You Love.

In this episode of Canna Curious, Kyla is joined by her close friend Sandrine for a deeply personal and emotional conversation about their friend Alethea (Leath) — who has been incarcerated for cannabis-related charges for just over a year.

This is not a legal analysis or a political debate. It’s a human conversation about friendship, shock, grief, love, anger, and the quiet resilience required when someone you love is caught in a system most of us never expect to encounter.

Leath cannot speak freely on the podcast right now, but when she is released later this year, she will be invited on to the podcast to share her story in her own words.

Until then, this episode holds space for her, and for all the people left on the outside trying to make sense of the inside.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Who Alethea is beyond her sentence — her heart, warmth, and devotion to community
• The shock of finding out a close friend is in prison
• How little most of us understand the justice system until we’re inside it
• What contact with someone in prison actually looks like (calls, visits, letters, costs)
• The emotional toll of limited access and constant uncertainty
• The strange mix of powerlessness, guilt, and love felt by friends on the outside
• Self-censorship, stigma, and why people struggle to talk about incarceration
• The realities of prison healthcare, communication, and overcrowding
• Learning to live inside constraints you didn’t choose
• Holding hope for release, parole, and life on the other side

A note to listeners

This conversation may be emotional to listen to. We speak candidly about incarceration, systemic injustice, and the personal impact of these systems on real people. Listener discretion is advised.

We’ve been careful not to share details that could compromise Alethea or anyone else. This episode is shared with love, respect, and care.

Want to support Alethea?

If you feel called, Alethea loves receiving letters - they bring her enormous joy and help her feel connected to the outside world.

📬 Mailing details:
Alethea’s public mailing address and prisoner number are listed below 

Alethea Wallace

Numimbah Correctional Centre

Private Mail Bag 1 

Nerang QLD 4211

(Please keep letters simple: no stickers, metallic ink, or extras - plain paper and pen are best.)

If you’d like to send a message of support but aren’t sure where to start, reach out to Kyla via socials and she’ll help guide you.

You can find Sandrine @marquisedesark