Incarcerated Reporters Project

The Type Investigations Incarcerated Reporters Project produces rigorous coverage of the criminal legal system from a vantage point not typically represented in mainstream media. In doing so, we challenge traditional assumptions about incarcerated writers and remove barriers that too often limit the scope and reach of their reporting. With editorial support, research assistance, expert fact-checking, and fair pay, this project gives incarcerated reporters the resources to take on ambitious, feature-length investigative projects.

The kernel of this project arose when Assistant Editor Nina Zweig pitched an idea at our retreat: since Type Investigations’s mission is to support and guide freelance reporters, often from communities underrepresented in investigative journalism, why not offer these resources to incarcerated journalists as well?

For advice on how to work with incarcerated writers, Nina reached out to Empowerment Avenue, a volunteer-run cohort that pairs incarcerated reporters and writers with outside journalists, who serve as conduits between their partners and publications. EA aims to place incarcerated writers’ work in national outlets and ensure that they’re paid fairly for their writing. The cohort’s work helps correct long-standing misrepresentations of incarcerated people in media while avoiding the “voice for the voiceless” trope that often undergirds prison reporting by outside journalists, even well-meaning ones.

Through conversations with EA, we discovered a significant gap that Type is uniquely positioned to fill. While some outlets do publish incarcerated writers’ work, they rarely give them the opportunity to do original reporting. Incarcerated writers are instead encouraged to write personal essays or op-eds about prison life — often for free or for a modest fee — but there’s very little rigorous, investigative reporting by incarcerated journalists, published, especially in mainstream publications.

Yet there is so much to be exposed behind prison walls. Nearly two million people are currently incarcerated, and for the most part, their worlds are (by design) hidden from public view, a problem that intensified during the pandemic. Many incarcerated reporters already write for prison newspapers and participate in prison journalism programs. They have the necessary skills for investigative reporting and, importantly, they have an enormous advantage over journalists outside: access.

But reporting from inside prison comes with unique hurdles. Reporters do not have easy access to the internet, so answering even a simple question can require a trip to the prison library, which may not have the right materials. They can’t interview sources over the phone from prison without help from an outside colleague, and filing public records requests while incarcerated can be prohibitively difficult. They risk retaliation or punishment if they try to pitch media outlets on their own.

With our industry in dire financial straits, most newsrooms can’t provide the level of support that incarcerated reporters need. Our research team at Type has the time, resources, and expertise to help reporters augment their investigations with public records, legal documents, and data.

Given the danger of this work for those inside, it’s our job as their colleagues to bring reliability and compassion to our work with them. In concrete terms, that means allocating extra institutional funds — phone calls from many prisons, for example, can cost three dollars for a 15-minute call — and resources to these projects. So far during this project, that’s included frequent phone calls to discuss reporting and editing, correspondence through prison email systems and snail mail, and research and editing support during the development of proposals and throughout the reporting process.

We reached out to several seasoned incarcerated reporters via Empowerment Avenue and quickly received pitches from a half-dozen reporters. To start, we’ve commissioned two stories from reporters incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison and Washington Corrections Center. Both of these journalists are receiving the same compensation for their work as other freelance reporters who write for Type. From speaking with EA and our own research, we believe that few if any other publications are offering incarcerated reporters comparable rates and research support.