Prison might be the last place you'd expect to celebrate World Press Freedom Day, today.
Yet this year, organizations that work to support a free press behind the walls in California have good reason to feel optimistic. That includes us.
Much has taken place since January 2024, when the governor's advisory council for the redevelopment of San Quentin State Prison into a rehabilitation center published its official report. One essential recommendation to facilitate rehabilitation was an upgraded multimedia space. The now nearly-completed building will give the San Quentin News (SQN) and the podcasts UnCuffed and Ear Hustle a state-of-the art space to create their content.
Then in March, PI opened the nation's first media center inside a women's prison, at the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF). Its monthly newspaper, CCWF Paper Trail, appeared in print for the first time in September. In the press release about its launch, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Secretary Jeff McComber underscored the department's support for the expansion. "This publication showcasing content gathered by the incarcerated community normalizes the concept of a free press as a part of our society inside and outside our institutions," McComber said.
Riding on this momentum, PI is now also reviving the American Penal Press Contest at the San Quentin. This historic awards program for prison journalism was founded in 1965 by Southern Illinois University Carbondale's journalism school. Think of them as the "Pulitzers" behind bars. As of this year, prison publications nationwide can compete for this prize for the first time since 1991.
This accelerated success of prison media relies on two necessary things: interest from the wider journalism profession and the support of reform-minded prison administrators who embrace civic responsibility and encourage information-sharing inside the walls.
Historically, prison media has struggled with less support. Our co-director Jesse Vasquez, who spent nearly 20 years in the prison system, knows this first-hand. His first efforts in prison publishing started in 2003 at Calipatria State Prison, where he and a small group of writers wanted to galvanize their community into thinking deeper about life's purpose in a place of despair. But Calipatria was—and still is—a maximum security prison with minimum programming. Their cell-born newsletter, called Areopagus, could only take on the form of a four-page Xerox copy. It distributed less than a hundred copies monthly and folded in under a year.
More newspapers are like Areopagus than SQN, a prison publication dating back to the 1920s with a 12-person incarcerated staff, an operating budget of $240,000 and dozens of regular volunteers who help train residents in the tools of the journalism trade. This privileged newsroom made it possible for all of us on the Pollen team to work as colleagues for years in spite of our different stations in life.
Even though SQN is well resourced by prison press standards, over the years we've grappled with the same issues that burden outside publications: community needs, audience engagement, staff turnover and volunteer burnout. And we've done it without much notice from the wider journalism industry. Sometimes it felt like we were working in a silo.
What was less clear to us was just how many others nationwide were trying to do the same thing— to replicate legacy prison publications that lent voice, hope and purpose to the incarcerated community. After our expansion to CCWF, we were delighted to find out that the highest security-level prisons in California— like Pelican Bay, Tehachapi, and Corcoran— are incubating publications too. All across the U.S., from Oregon to North Carolina, incarcerated editors, sponsoring corrections officers, even wardens wrote to us to express their interest in garnering more support.
The rebooted American Prison Press Contest is a way to draw out and build up a broader community of institutional publications. They honor the legacy of every prison newspaper, journalist, volunteer and administrator who has helped keep the torch burning for exchange of information in dark places. And continue to do so. We hope they will attract the mentors and the readers so often lacking, especially for publications operating in rural areas.
People who care about the future of journalism —whether industry professionals or committed news readers— have an opportunity to make a real impact in a place of so little freedom by engaging with the winners of these awards. Stay tuned for the longlist announcement in August.
Thank you for your support,
The Pollen Team
Jesse, Kate, Meredith and Veronica
