One of the oldest and longest-running prison publications in the nation, San Quentin News was first published in 1940 under the direction of Warden Clinton T. Duffy. The warden hoped that a publication run by incarcerated individuals would help to curb the prison’s rumor mill and get the population information they needed from a source they could trust.

The newspaper provides the population with news they can use, stories that inspire change, and gives the public a better understanding of the black box of our justice system.

As the fiscal sponsor of San Quentin News, Pollen Initiative raises money to print and distribute the 12-page paper to every facility in California. But we believe that San Quentin News can be a model for prison newspapers across the nation, so we invest our time as well. 

With curriculum by our Editorial Director Kate McQueen and instruction by ESPN investigative reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada, we run a 15-week Journalism Guild to train aspiring journalists in the basics of news writing and reporting, giving them the tools they need to earn a spot on the newspaper staff. We also recruit volunteers to help edit the newspaper or provide other support they might need. 

Now that the newspaper has moved into the San Quentin Learning Center, we are excited to expand the program to include broadcast journalism and more!