Prison Periodicals as a Mechanism for Institutional Change Kaitlyn Woltz1* Abstract How did prison periodicals—newspapers written and produced by prisoners—effect institutional change in the US criminal justice system during the twentieth century? This paper answers this question by applying insights from Coyne and Leeson (2009) who argue that mass media serves as a mechanism for institutional change. In that same vein, I argue that these periodicals served as a mechanism for institutional change (both of formal criminal justice legislation and prison policies, and informal prison norms) by providing prisoners a platform by which they could influence the mental models of voters, political actors, prison officials, and other inmates. These periodicals also served as an accountability mechanism, holding political actors accountable to voters and holding prison officials accountable to the political actors who appointed them. By informing the public about the realities of prison life and the mismatch between the goal of rehabilitation and the prison experience, prisoners achieved penological reform despite a lack of direct agency over criminal justice institutions. KEYWORDS: Prison Periodicals; Prison Programming; Institutions; Institutional Change JEL CODES: K42, P16 1* Email: [email protected] Address: Department of Economics, George Mason University, MSN 3G4, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA. I’m grateful for the support of the Mercatus Center and IHS that made doing this research possible. Thanks to Peter Boettke, Alain Marciano, and participants of the Graduate Student Paper Workshop through the F. A. Hayek Program for their helpful feedback. Thanks also to the librarians as John Jay College of Criminology for their help in accessing the collection of prison periodicals there. Special thanks to Dr. Ellen Belcher who helped me access the special collections at John Jay and recommended many helpful references. The usual caveat applies. The prisoners in the famous dilemma cannot change the constraints imposed on them by the district attorney; they are in jail. Not all users of natural resources are similarly incapable of changing their constraints. As long as individuals are viewed as prisoners, policy prescriptions will address this metaphor. I would rather address the question of how to enhance the capabilities of those involved to change the constraining rules of the game to lead to outcomes other than the remorseless tragedies. (Elinor Ostrom 1990, 7) We are not power brokers in the traditional sense. We can’t do that. What we have is the ability to influence people. (Wilbert Rideau editor of the Angolite from 1976 to 2001, quoted in Morris 1998, 163) 1 Introduction In 1979, Wilbert Rideau and Billy Sinclair—inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary— won the George Polk Award for special interest reporting in the Angolite (George Polk Award 2019). The Angolite was one of over 200 periodicals published out of US prisons in the twentieth century. Like many other prison journalists at the time, Rideau and Sinclair strove to use the periodical as a tool to improve the prison environment. Rideau wanted The Angolite to serve as a “two-way education process” (2010: 116). He sought to educate inmates and the administration about each other in order to reduce the tension in the prison and improve inmates’ quality of life. Other inmate journalists, who shared Rideau’s vision, also desired to educate the public about the reality of life in prison. They sought not only to reform the prison internally, but to achieve reform of the criminal justice system overall. For example, Dave Saunders, editor of the Menard Times—the inmate-produced periodical published out of Illinois State Penitentiary— was successful in inspiring the reform of parole laws in Illinois. In an editorial, he described how those inmates who had a support network and a job waiting for them after release received parole and supervisory assistance, while inmates who had neither were not released until the end of their sentence and were simply given a new suit and twenty-five dollars. Saunders’s article 2 alerted senator Paul Simon to the discrepancy in parole procedures. As a result, Simon pushed a bill through the legislature that established a system of conditional release to replace previous parole procedures (Morris 2002, 149). Afterward, Simon credited the improvement in the Illinois penal system to the Menard Times (ibid). How were inmate journalists able to effect institutional change? And, on what margins were they successful in triggering reform? I argue that prison periodicals served as a mechanism for institutional change by providing a platform through which prison journalists could influence the mental models of prisoners, guards, prison officials, political actors, and the public. I apply the framework from Coyne and Leeson (2009a, 2009b). Coyne and Leeson (2009a, 2009b) find that mass media triggers institutional change by influencing the mental models of voters and holding political actors accountable to voters. Drawing on the New Institutional Economics, Coyne and Leeson (2004,2005a, 2005b, 2009a, 2009b) analyze the role of mass media in the transition to growth enhancing institution in post-Soviet countries. They find that when the media operates freely it holds political actors accountable for the policies they implement. In this way, free media coordinates the interests of the citizenry, political actors, and special interests (Coyne and Leeson 2007). Like media outlets in Post-Soviet countries, inmate journalists challenge the mental models of the public and hold political actors and prison officials accountable for prison reform. Existing literature on prison journalism comes out of the fields of communications and criminal justice. Much of the early literature consists of descriptive research, acquainting the reader with the phenomenon of prison journalism and, at times, advocating for its further implementation in the criminal justice system (Barrows 1910; Coulter 1936; Lundon 1952, 1955; Lainson 1955; Time 1959; Baird 1967; Gettinger 1976). They document the self-proclaimed goal 3 of prison editors: to educate society about the realities of prison life. Because of this effort, these researchers attributed several roles to prison periodicals. These include rehabilitation, a release valve, penological reform, information dissemination, influencing prison culture, governance, entertainment. Through these roles these researchers represent periodicals as serving both inmates and prison officials. More recent work on prison journalism argues that by giving prisoners a voice, inmate- produced media provides prisoners with some agency within the prison. In this way, inmate- journalists influence the prison culture (Bedford 2016, 2018; Churcher 2008, 2011, 2018; Novek 2005). With the exception of Churcher (2011), these works see inmate-produced media as only influencing prisoners. They focus on how the inmate-produced media influences prisoners’ attitudes and do not account for how the inmate-produced media influences prison officials, political actors, or the public such that the resulting formal institutional change identified in descriptive research on prison journalism is explained. In contrast, Churcher (2011) argues that prison journalism unites prisoners and the public in the goal of prison reform but fails to identify a mechanism by which this coordination occurs. As the first economic analysis of prison journalism, this paper aims to fill this gap by identifying the mechanism by which prison journalism effects formal and informal institutional change both inside and outside the prison. The paper proceeds as follows: section two acquaints the reader with the phenomenon of prison periodicals. Section three applies Coyne and Leeson (2009)’s framework for how media can serve as a mechanism for institutional change to prison periodicals. Section four provides comparative evidence of efforts by prison journalists to trigger penological reform through prison periodicals. The final section concludes. 2 Prison Periodicals 4 Prison periodicals are newspapers and magazines written and produced by inmates. They vary in size and publication frequency, ranging from four-page weekly newspapers to 100-page bimonthly magazines. They have existed since 1880 and have been published out of every state (except New Hampshire) and the District of Columbia. The largest number of periodicals were in circulation during 1964, when sixty-seven periodicals were in publication, after which their numbers declined. Today, eight are still in operation. The content of the periodicals is largely consistent across publications. Inmate journalists spoke to a diverse audience: inmates, correctional officers, prison officials, political actors, judges, inmates’ family, and the public. To address all of these audiences, the periodicals included a wide range of articles. The material included for inmates focused on entertainment through jokes and sports news, communicating prison news (upcoming events, prison policy changes, and programming updates), and providing information on legal changes and resources. In addressing those involved in everyday life of the prison (inmates, correctional officers, prison officials), the periodicals advocated for change within the prison by documenting prison events that celebrated efforts by inmates to improve themselves, cooperation between inmates and guards, and calling for inmate and correctional officers to show greater respect for each other. In addressing