The Carbon Copy Nothingness

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In 2012, the prison mirror conducted an investigation into Minnesota lawmakers' use of prison canteen profits. After the investigation was published in the prison newspaper, lawmakers reversed course. A man named Wilbert Rideau spent 44 years at Angola, beginning in 1961. He started his own prison publication, a magazine called The Lifer. Under his leadership, they won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the George Polk Award.

A little over sixty years ago, there were 250 prison newspapers being published on a regular basis. Today, there are 26. We visit Nash Correctional Institution in North Carolina to meet Phillip Vance Smith, II, the editor of The Nash News.

Learn more about the American Prison Newspapers digitization project here. Listen to more of Fresh Air’s interview with Angolite editor Wilbert Rideau here. Special thanks to Terry Gross and Fresh Air, which is produced at NPR member station WHYY and distributed by NPR.

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