Writing from Prison: Journalism in Europe’s Prisons | EUROtoday

From Spain to Greece: fashions in contrast

In Europe, the fashions are very totally different. In Spain, La Voz del Patio, the Burgos jail newspaper, represents an virtually distinctive case. Born in 2019, it’s a 24-page paper publication, with a circulation of seven thousand copies, additionally distributed in bars and outlets within the metropolis. The editorial crew is made up of 9 prisoners supported by 4 skilled journalists. «Here there are individuals who have made errors and who society tends to exclude, however they continue to be a part of society», explains Víctor Cámara, educator and coordinator of the mission, underlining the worth of the newspaper as a reintegration instrument.

In Greece, nonetheless, the expertise is way more restricted. Only the Avlona juvenile jail has an everyday newspaper, produced not by the jail administration however by the Second Chance School contained in the establishment. Precisely this “scholastic” place ensures a large freedom of expression. The newspaper is created totally by student-prisoners, with the pedagogical help of lecturers, and in addition hosted an interview with the President of the Republic, with questions chosen by the scholars themselves.

The Hungarian case and the institutional method

At the opposite excessive is Hungary, the place the Börtönújság (Prison Newspaper), based in 1898, is an institutional publication, written primarily by jail workers. With 48 pages and a circulation of three thousand copies, the newspaper has a powerful informative and academic focus: rights and duties, coaching packages, regulatory modifications, non secular life and cultural actions. Also on this case, the declared goal is reintegration, however the area for narrative autonomy of the prisoners stays restricted.

The militant voice in France

In France, jail journalism finds considered one of its most radical expressions in L’Envolée, a militant newspaper produced outdoors however fueled by letters and testimonies arriving from prisons. «L’Envolée desires to be a sounding board for prisoners preventing in opposition to their future», we learn within the presentation of the mission, which claims independence from the management of the jail administration. Alongside this expertise, the International Prison Observatory publishes Dedans Dehors, knowledgeable newspaper that mixes journalistic investigation and networking with prisoners and households.

An all the time unstable steadiness

Journalism from jail strikes in an area that establishments view with suspicion: on the one hand, the best way during which jail is reported on the surface; on the opposite, the circulation of knowledge inside the establishments. Yet, as Scandurra observes, these experiences are the fruit of day by day battles carried out by associations and volunteers, and survive solely because of the standard of the work carried out.