Reading a newspaper can be done anytime and anywhere nowadays because now newspaper can be in a digital form. However, for people who are incarcerated, reading newspaper, even though it is in a digital form, it is not easy because they live in limitations. Well, talking about newspaper for prisoners, there are a number of top prison newspaper that can be read not only for prisoners, but also for other people. Below are some top prison newspapers where we also include some magazines in the list.
PJP Inside
PJP Inside is a print publication which is published by Prison Journalism Project. It is distributed to the outlet’s writers in prisons and jails across the U.S.
For your information, until the fall of 2021, stories from Prison Journalism Project had only been available online. Because of that, it was hard for them to share the stories with their writers in the prison. So, they send their writers copies of their stories after they are published. However, they wanted to read each other’s stories and Prison Journalism Project also wanted them to learn from each other so that Project Journalism Project launched the PJP Inside.
In each issue, stories that reflect the best content of PJP are chosen. There, you are able to find news reports and commentary on current events that are happening in and outside prison. Besides, there are also essays and poetry on topics about mental health and family relationships.
In March 2022, PJP Inside won an Award of Excellence from the Society of News Design for front page design for its fall 2021 issue. And then, in the same year, exactly in September 2022, PJP Inside got the Community Champion Award from the Institute of Nonprofit News.
The print newspaper is available in Prison Journalism Project, but in a limited quantity that can be shared with educational programs, organizations that work with incarcerated communities and writers who get impacted by incarceration. If you want to request a copy of the newspaper, you are able to send an email by including your name and mailing address to pjp-inside@prisonjournalismproject.org. Are you affiliated with a program or organization? If so, you can also include your title, name of affiliation and the number of students or members of your community that you serve.
Prison Journalism Project is an independent and non-profit organization which was established in April 2020 by Yukari Iwatani Kane and Shaheen Pasha. At that time, Yukari and Shaheen were teaching journalism at San Quentin State Prison and Hampshire County Jail in Massachusetts. When the Covid 19 pandemic happened, they saw that the information came from prison was little and then they began a publication on Medium in April 2020. There, they published experiences and dispatches about the impact of the pandemic on incarceration.
Prison Journalism Project trains incarcerated writers to be journalists and publish their stories. The incarcerated writers are provided the correspondence-based lessons on the tools of journalism through its PJP J-School program and then on its online magazine, it publishes their stories.
Through its programs, namely PJP J-School and an editorial publishing arm, Prison Journalism Project gives a contribution to the movement for prison reform. Incarcerated writers and formerly incarcerated writers are recruited, trained, and paid by Prison Journalism Project and then their works are published as well. It is done to help instill freedom of the press behind the walls.
Inside Journal
This is a newspaper which is published four times a year in March, June, September, and December where it is available in Men’s, Women’s and Spanish editions. The newspaper consists of eight pages. This newspaper is available in a PDF format and for people who want to send it to their family member or friend in prison, this newspaper suggests them to print out a copy of it and then mail it to them. Prisoners will need a newspaper as a source of information, encouragement, and inspiration.
As of September 2017, all editions of Inside Journal are printed in full color. Per year, Inside Journal circulates more than 836,000 copies and now it has reached more than 200,000 prisoners at more than 800 correctional facilities throughout North America.
For your information, Inside Journal is a newspaper printed and distributed by Prison Fellowship through program coordinators, chaplains, and in-prison volunteers to correctional facilities across the country. Prison Fellowship is the largest Christian nonprofit organization for former prisoners, prisoners, and their families. It was established in 1976 by Charles W. Colson. Then, in 1979, Prison Fellowship International was established as well. This organization has always given faith-based programs for prisoners, but then in 1990s, there was a rise in program provided by the organization that tried to integrate education, life-skills, and counselling into a holistic program for prisoners in certain jurisdiction.
Correctional News
Correctional News is a news magazine that is dedicated to correctional facility construction, maintenance and operations. This news magazine was established in 1994. This news magazine has been read by a lot of people such as facility operators and managers, architects, contractors, suppliers, wardens, engineers, sheriffs, healthcare and food service managers and government agencies. For almost 30 years, Correctional News has become a news publication where it delivers more correctional industry news than all other publications combined in each issue. The official website of this news magazine is correctionalnews.com.
Prison Legal News
Prison Legal News, as explained on its official website, is an independent magazine that provides review and analysis of prisoners’ rights, court rulings, and news about issues related to criminal justice. This magazine is a project of the Human Rights Defense Center. The magazine consists of 72 pages and it is issued monthly.
The focus of Prison Legal News is on state and federal prison issues and some international coverage. The information provided by the Prison Legal News is aimed to give more understanding about a criminal justice not only for prisoners and organizations related to it in particular, but also for other people in general. A number of areas that are covered by Prison Legal News are the private prison industry, prison labor, medical and mental health care for prisoners, settlements and verdicts in lawsuits against detention facilities, misconduct and abuse by prison and jail staff, the death penalty, juvenile justice, the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), solitary confinement, and many more.
For people who want to subscribe this magazine, they can send the Prison Legal News a check or money order for the correct amount to:
Prison Legal News
P.O. Box 1151, Lake Worth, FL 33460
To subscribe this magazine, you need to pay $36 per year, but if you are lawyers, government agencies, and corporations, you need to pay $90 per year.
Prison Legal News has been published since May 1990. As of February 2017, the average circulation of PLN was over 9,000 hardcopy issues per month. It is estimated by the Human Rights Defense Center that around 70% of PLN’s subscribers are state and federal prisoners.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
