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Prison Truth: The Story of the San Quentin News
San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest prison and the nation’s largest, is notorious for once holding America’s most dangerous prisoners. But in 2008, the Bastille-by-the-Bay became a beacon for rehabilitation through the prisoner-run newspaper the San Quentin News .
Prison Truth tells the story of how prisoners, many serving life terms, transformed the prison climate from what Johnny Cash called a living hell to an environment that fostered positive change in inmates’ lives. Award-winning journalist William J. Drummond takes us behind bars, introducing us to Arnulfo García, the visionary prisoner who led the revival of the newspaper. Drummond describes how the San Quentin News, after a twenty-year shutdown, was recalled to life under an enlightened warden and the small group of local retired newspaper veterans serving as advisers, which Drummond joined in 2012. Sharing how officials cautiously and often unwittingly allowed the newspaper to tell the stories of the incarcerated, Prison Truth illustrates the power of prison media to humanize the experiences of people inside penitentiary walls and to forge alliances with social justice networks seeking reform.
Prison Truth tells the story of how prisoners, many serving life terms, transformed the prison climate from what Johnny Cash called a living hell to an environment that fostered positive change in inmates’ lives. Award-winning journalist William J. Drummond takes us behind bars, introducing us to Arnulfo García, the visionary prisoner who led the revival of the newspaper. Drummond describes how the San Quentin News, after a twenty-year shutdown, was recalled to life under an enlightened warden and the small group of local retired newspaper veterans serving as advisers, which Drummond joined in 2012. Sharing how officials cautiously and often unwittingly allowed the newspaper to tell the stories of the incarcerated, Prison Truth illustrates the power of prison media to humanize the experiences of people inside penitentiary walls and to forge alliances with social justice networks seeking reform.
- GenresNonfictionMemoirHistory
339 pages, Hardcover
Published January 7, 2020
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65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 16, 2021
Truth be told, I wouldn't have purchased this book for myself -- it was gifted by a friend, and it sat on my shelf for over a year before I felt impelled to give it a go. I ended up enjoying it, and I learned a lot more than I expected to.
As a person who has spent thousands of hours volunteering and working in connection to people incarcerated at San Quentin, I've gone through my own process of situating myself in the prison program world, and I've grown a bit wary of prison storytelling by volunteers/benefactors. There's often either an exploitative or a savioristic element -- sometimes both -- in stories told about the place, and I've noticed that it's common for incarcerated people to be unwittingly cast as characters in narratives that privilege the voice of an already-privileged storyteller.
I can't say this tendency is absent in this book. But the author does hold a measure of genuine respect for the incarcerated humans described; and he sporadically invokes their own written and spoken words, which I think is good and somewhat cuts against the grain of said tendency.
Yet I'm not sure whether everyone featured in this book was asked for consent to have their life story (or a third party's understanding of their life story) on display. Granted, I don't think consent would be strictly required as a matter of journalistic ethics. But I do think it would be preferred from a certain political standpoint, one that's mindful of power dynamics and privilege.
Another thing that gave me pause: In the middle section, several chapters are devoted to "key players" in the history of San Quentin News. Each character gets a full chapter. But then there's one chapter dedicated to "Asians in the Newsroom" (that's the literal title). The unspoken implication is that the Asian characters are similar enough to each other to be lumped together / not individually consequential enough to merit their own chapters. I imagine this wasn't the intended implication, but in the absence of explanation, this editorial choice feels odd at best. It also tracks the subconscious tendency in our culture to view Asians as a monolith and wedge us into a peripheral corner of the conversation.
Despite these and a few other concerns, I enjoyed the book. It's a complex narrative with many different threads, and while they didn't all cohere perfectly, the storytelling held my interest throughout. It was fun to read about people, places, and programs that were familiar to me (I was active in/around San Quentin since about 2008, around when SQN was resurrected and Prof Drummond began to be involved), and I also enjoyed reading the author's perspective on how SQN fit into the broader context of mass incarceration and system reform (which I also was actively researching from 2010-2016). The author has also had an interesting life and career, and I didn't mind his weaving bits of his own story into the book.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
As a person who has spent thousands of hours volunteering and working in connection to people incarcerated at San Quentin, I've gone through my own process of situating myself in the prison program world, and I've grown a bit wary of prison storytelling by volunteers/benefactors. There's often either an exploitative or a savioristic element -- sometimes both -- in stories told about the place, and I've noticed that it's common for incarcerated people to be unwittingly cast as characters in narratives that privilege the voice of an already-privileged storyteller.
I can't say this tendency is absent in this book. But the author does hold a measure of genuine respect for the incarcerated humans described; and he sporadically invokes their own written and spoken words, which I think is good and somewhat cuts against the grain of said tendency.
Yet I'm not sure whether everyone featured in this book was asked for consent to have their life story (or a third party's understanding of their life story) on display. Granted, I don't think consent would be strictly required as a matter of journalistic ethics. But I do think it would be preferred from a certain political standpoint, one that's mindful of power dynamics and privilege.
Another thing that gave me pause: In the middle section, several chapters are devoted to "key players" in the history of San Quentin News. Each character gets a full chapter. But then there's one chapter dedicated to "Asians in the Newsroom" (that's the literal title). The unspoken implication is that the Asian characters are similar enough to each other to be lumped together / not individually consequential enough to merit their own chapters. I imagine this wasn't the intended implication, but in the absence of explanation, this editorial choice feels odd at best. It also tracks the subconscious tendency in our culture to view Asians as a monolith and wedge us into a peripheral corner of the conversation.
Despite these and a few other concerns, I enjoyed the book. It's a complex narrative with many different threads, and while they didn't all cohere perfectly, the storytelling held my interest throughout. It was fun to read about people, places, and programs that were familiar to me (I was active in/around San Quentin since about 2008, around when SQN was resurrected and Prof Drummond began to be involved), and I also enjoyed reading the author's perspective on how SQN fit into the broader context of mass incarceration and system reform (which I also was actively researching from 2010-2016). The author has also had an interesting life and career, and I didn't mind his weaving bits of his own story into the book.
3.5 stars, rounded up.
May 25, 2021
4.5 Here are the questions discussed at the Reading the Western Landscape Community Book Discussion on Zoom on Wednesday, Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. PDT.
February 10, 2020
such a cool story. the sqn is so so important and i'm so glad i know about it. now i really want to take the class that lets you volunteer in sq...! i also loved the way arnulfo garcia was described--truly a groundbreaking, inspirational figure that changed so many lives from behind bars.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews