Prison newspapers are newspapers created within a prison, typically by the inmates.

The first prison newspaper is believed to have appeared in the 19th century in a debtors' prison.^[1]: 86 Prison reformers in the US created a prison newspaper at the Elmira Reformatory in 1883.^{[2]: 36–38} It was "carefully assembled not to include items that officials deemed to have a bad influence on the inmates" and was instead intended for rehabilitative purposes.^[2]: 40 The first inmate-driven paper was created at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in 1887.^[3]

A 1935 study, the first on the topic, found that almost half of US prisons had a prison newspaper.^[3] The genre reached its height in the 1960s in the United States, at which point circulation was approximately 2 million readers across 250 publications.^[1]: 86During this period "active and alert prison reporting" became more common, with inmates highlighting problems within the prison system.^[4] The "Pulitzers of prison journalism", the Penal Press Awards, were awarded annually beginning in 1965.^[5]

However, they faced issues around freedom of the press, as critiques of prison practices were met with institutional censorship.^[1]: 87In 1974, in the US Supreme Court case of Pell v. Procunier, the court ruled to uphold a California state restriction against prison inmates being interviewed face-to-face by the press. Journalists and inmates had contended that this restriction violated the First Amendment.^[6] This ruling "largely replaced" earlier precedents supportive of prison reporting; subsequent court decisions also held that "the prison's security interests trumped the free speech rights of inmates" and that prisons could entirely forbid prison newspapers.^[1]: 87 Similar patterns and tensions emerged in other parts of the world, such as Canada.^[7]: 98 These pressures resulted in a quick and significant decline in the number of prison newspapers in publication between the 1970s and 1990s, with just six operating in 1998.^[3][1]: 87 However, more recently, "alongside a surge in bipartisan interest in criminal justice reform, prison journalism has reemerged and garnered the attention and support of funders, politicians, and the public".^[8] As of 2023 there are an estimated 24 prison newspapers in the US.^[9]

Early prison newspapers were typically "devoted to inmate activities: sports events, movies and other entertainment, personal items, blood banks, school and organizational activities, hobbies, and the like".^[7]: 90 Humour was also often featured.^[7]: 91 Sports remain a popular topic of reporting.^[10] Depending on the level of censorship at a particular institution, such papers may carry stories critical of the prison administration.^[10][11] With the modern aging prison population in the US, obituaries have also become a feature.^[10]

Challenges within the prison system, including potential reprisals against prison journalists, complicate reporting.^[12] The US Federal Bureau of Prisons has an explicit ban on journalism by inmates, while most US states have restrictions that negatively impact journalism from within jails.^[13]

• Forlorn Hope was the first prison newspaper in the US, begun in 1800.^[11]
• The Prison Mirror, first published in 1887, is the oldest continuously operating prison newspaper.^[11][5]

• The Angolite, the prison newspaper of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, has won numerous journalism awards including the George Polk Award and a nomination for a National Magazine Award.^[10]

• The San Quentin News from San Quentin State Prison is the subject of a 2020 book by journalism professor William J. Drummond.^[14]

• The Prison Journalism Project maintains a partial directory of active prison newspapers in the United States.^[15]

• Lovey Cooper, Emily Nonko, & Danielle Purifoy (Eds.) The Press in Prison. Scalawag Media. ISBN 9781642598957
• Elanor Novek (2011). The life inside: incarcerated women represent themselves through journalism. In Jodie Michelle Lawston & Ashley E. Lucas (Eds.). Razor Wire Women, ch. 21. State University of New York Press. ISBN 9781438435336
• Adam Quinn (2021). "Aboveground, underground, and locked down": radical prison newspapers in Washington, 1975–90. Radical History Review, 2021(141):151–175.

• Phillip Vance Smith II (10 November 2022). What's it like to be an editor of a prison newspaper?. JSTOR
• Fredrik Stiernstedt & Anne Kaun (October 2021). Prison papers: between alternative and mainstream. Journal of Alternative & Community Media, 6(2):197–216.

• Quick Guide to Starting a Prison Newspaper from the Prison Journalism Project
• Prison Journalists from The Marshall Project
• Prison Newspaper Directory from the Prison Journalism Project
• American Prison Newspapers 1880–2020 from JSTOR