OF
THE PENAL PRESS
By
Walter A. Lunden Ph.D
The Presidio, October1962
Apart from these factors, it must be agreed, prison journalism could not have arisen without the printing press in prison and the inmate printer, some enterprising person had the foresight to purchase the equipment and when a professional printer entered a prison he became the man who edited the first prison publication. The man and the machine got together inside the prison where the skilled workman applied his training and his trade with the approval of a wise warden. The innovation exemplified confidence and good will for all concerned.
There is sufficient evidence at hand to say that prison journalism, as of 1962, is 79 years of age in the United States. In a sense prison journalism is peculiar to America because inmate publications have been unknown in Europe. The first prison publication appeared on Thanksgiving Day in 1883 at the New York State Reformatory in Elmira, New York. This weekly newspaper carried a decorative masthead with the name, THE SUMMARY. The paper contained news of events within the prison, announcements, poetry and reports of addresses delivered at inmate convocations. In a later edition, in 1775, the paper reported a certain Rev. T. F. Clark, who spoke to the inmates saying that he would rather send his son to the "Elmira Reformatory than to one of the many higher schools and colleges." He pointed out that the colleges are prone to "eliminate the granite in a young man's composition, dissipate his lung power and leave him a weak-spirited, too-conservative, unagressive creature with no self-reliance, push or enterprise."
The reformatory on the other hand developed these qualities, "and by its perfect discipline and thorough training adapted a young man to the exigencies and opportunities of life."
The second inmate publication appeared in the Wisconsin State Prison at Waupun in 1886. The paper carried the name of THE PRISON PRESS, dated January 5, 1886, and sold for five cents to inmates and to the public. An inmate, George L. Wooten, served as the first editor with the help of another inmate, George W. Kane. Mr. George W. Carter was the warden at the time when there were 450 male and 16 female persons in the prison.
The four page newspaper contained short stories, shop news, official notices, a lost and found section, want ads and advertisements from Waupun merchants. The prison barber, Clint O. Welch, ran an ad stating "I desire to announce to my comrades that I am fully prepared to take Tintype Pictures at 25 cents each. If you contemplate sending your Mother, sister or friend a picture please give me an order." On the editorial page Editor Wooten contended that "THE PRISON PRESS is the first of its kind." He acknowledged the existence of THE SUMMARY but insisted that "it is circulated gratuitously and is edited and published by the Superintendent and assistants of the Reformatory, and is not there fore, in any sense, a prisoner's paper." Thus began among inmate editors the distinction between the FRONT TYPE and the INMATE TYPE of a prison publication. Today prison editors distinguish between the FRONT TYPE or the house organ publication. Today prison editors distinguish between the FRONT TYPE or the house organ publicaton supervised and published by the administrators and the INMATE TYPE which is written, prepared and printed by inmates. Prison editors generally have a certain respect for the later but look with some question on the FRONT TYPE.
Editor Wooten, in his first issue expressed a view which has since been the ideal of inmate editors across the nation. "We trust that the introduction of the printing press into the great penal institutions of this great republic will eventually solve the great problem of true prison reform. It shall be our earnest endeavor to bury melancholy, estrangement, and enmity in the vast regions of the past, and in their cankered bosom sow the Golden Seeds of hope, love, and charity."
The third prison publication developed in the adjoining state of Minesota, at the State Prison in Stillwater where in 1887 the inmates printed the PRISON MIRROR. Early copies of this paper are not available.
In order of time the OHIO PENITENTIARY NEWS was the fourth prison publication to be printed in the United States. Since 1894 it has been known as the OHIO PENITENTIARY NEWS. Mr. J. M. Drake, the Business Manager, in a letter dated 1951 stated that "It is known that we published another penal paper before the OHIO PENITENTIARY NEWS under another name but we have no record to justify the facts." The Howard Times at the Rhode Island State Prison contends that there was a paper printed at the Ohio Prison in 1854 but there is no information to verify this fact. If the claim can be substantiated then the honor of publishing the first prison paper must go to the Columbus (Ohio) institution.
From these early 19th Century beginnings the Prison Press has grown rapidly in the 20th Century. With few exceptions almost every state and federal prison today has a weekly newspaper, a monthly magazine, mimeographed sheets or a quarterly publication. The exact circulation of all these cannot be stated with any certainty because of changing conditions. Howerver, in 1951, 61 prison publications in as many prisons and reformatories had a circulation of about 100,000 copies. The circulation of the individual publications varied from less than 500 to more then 8,000 copies. About 70 percent of the circulation went to inmates and 30 percent to outside readers. Federal prison publications (40 percent) had more outside circulation than state prisons (26 percent).
Today most prison publications are witten FOR the prisoner not TO him. The primary and basic purpose of prison journalism is to transmit ideas from the prisoners in two directions; inside and outside the wall. the objective has been to establish a better understanding between the prison and the public by means of the printed word. Here, then, is the ultimate and overall reason for prison publications, to help the public appreciate life inside the prison and to surmount the high wall of misunderstanding. From this it should not be assumed that prison publications operate without censorship. To some authorities censorship may be an important problem but in the well managed it is not an issue.
"BEST OF THE PRISON PRESS"