ABSTRACT

In the 1980s alone, some 100 periodicals were published by and for inmates of America's prisons. Unlike their peers who passed their sentences stamping out licence plates, these convicts spent their days like reporters in any community - looking for the story. Yet their own story, the lengthy history of their unique brand of journalism, remained largely unknown. In this volume James McGrath Morris seeks to address the history of this medium, the lives of the men and women who brought it to life, and the controversies that often surround it.

chapter 1|12 pages

Forlorn Hope

chapter 2|6 pages

When Luceppa Bared Her Bosom

chapter 3|10 pages

The Summary

chapter 4|8 pages

The Reformists’ Newspapers

chapter 5|10 pages

The Prison Mirror

chapter 6|8 pages

The Mentor

chapter 7|8 pages

The Subterranean Brotherhood

chapter 8|10 pages

Federal Scribes

chapter 9|8 pages

Can Opener, New Era, and the Wobblies

chapter 10|12 pages

The Rose Man of Sing Sing

chapter 11|8 pages

Harelike Growth

chapter 12|8 pages

Chronicling Wrongful Imprisonment

chapter 13|6 pages

Der Ruf

chapter 14|14 pages

Leaves from a Lifer’s Notebook

chapter 15|10 pages

Yoke of Censorship

chapter 16|12 pages

Bayou Style

chapter 17|10 pages

Fighting Back

chapter 18|8 pages

The First Amendment and the Prison Press

chapter 19|8 pages

Prison Journalism Writes “-30-”