Why Journalism Belongs Behind Bars
Sep 28, 2021
Kate McQueen
Why Journalism Belongs Behind Bars

Kate McQueen is a writer and lecturer at University of California Santa Cruz, specializing in literary journalism, with a focus on narratives of crime and justice. She also serves as a director at Prison Journalism Project and as an editorial advisor at San Quentin News, San Quentin State Prison, Calif. She can be found on Twitter at @katejoymcqueen

Journalism wields enormous power by choosing who and what to highlight. Today, stories about the criminal justice system are written almost entirely with an outside perspective. Drawing on a few historical and recent stories, Kate McQueen will talk about how the public benefits when incarcerated writers use the tools of journalism to join the national conversation on crime and punishment. Attendees will learn about local prison newspapers as well as nation-wide initiatives to bring journalism and journalism education into prisons.