Most official publications wouldn’t get these articles past the warden; but, to be fair, that’s not always what they’re aiming for. The Stillwater Prison Mirror, the country’s longest-running continuously published prison newspaper, tends to focus on noncontroversial topics such as community outreach programs, workshops, and graduation ceremonies. It’s not going out on a “Sexual Jungle” limb anytime soon, but it does run editorials and informative pieces on prisoners’ savings, health services, mental illness, the prison’s hospice program, and many other subjects.

“Ultimately, it’s for the offenders,” says Pat Pawlak, Stillwater’s education director and the Prison Mirror’s staff supervisor. “It’s to highlight opportunities and successes and people doing positive things with their time.” The crisp-looking Prison Mirror, which resembles a newsletter more than a newspaper, is distributed to Stillwater’s 1,400 inmates every month; copies are also sent to more than 200 outside subscribers. It may be nonconfrontational, but consider that the vast majority of the nearly 5,000 prisons and jails in this country don’t have a newspaper to serve them. It’s a deficiency that, considering overcrowding, tight budgets, and lackluster medical care, isn’t likely to become a high priority. “Everything is really bad,” Wright says, “and the prison press just got swept away with everything else.”