CHOWCHILLA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – At the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, a powerful new voice is emerging. “The Paper Trail” is a monthly newspaper written entirely by incarcerated women, giving them a chance to share their stories, their struggles, and their hope.
“We are hoping to show people that we’re also people you know, we made mistakes. We accept that we’re suffering our consequences. But while we’re here, we can still do good. We can still do things to benefit the communities,” said Amber Bray, editor-in-chief of The Paper Trail.
CCWF is the largest women’s prison in the United States, housing just over 2,000 people. Out of California’s 34 prisons, only two are for women. As of January 2023, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation oversaw about 95,000 incarcerated people: 91,000 men and just 4,000 women.
Bray says this imbalance means women’s voices and issues are often ignored by lawmakers.
“We recently ran some stories on menopause, an issue that is kind of being talked about more in society, and it impacts us too. But people don’t always consider that sort of thing, “said Bray. “So we just want to enlarge the conversation, we want to bring more voices to the table so that we can have a more fulsome debate on what issues are impacting the incarcerated population.”
The Paper Trail is an insert inside the San Quentin News publication, with a print distribution of 35,000 copies in the California Department of Corrections and over 850,000 copies nationwide. The Pollen Initiative funds the publication and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating media centers inside prisons across the country.
These efforts put the pen directly in the hands of incarcerated individuals, empowering them to tell their own stories rather than relying on outside media, while also opening a powerful window for the public to see inside.
“It’s the opportunity to access a different world and a different perspective, which not only creates empathy, but it also creates community. I think that’s the benefit of having local news and being civically engaged,” said Jesse Vasquez, who is the Executive Director of The Pollen Initiative.
Vasquez was formerly incarcerated and was the Editor-In-Chief of the San Quentin News. During his time there, he received a lot of letters from incarcerated women that he describes as both depressing and enlightening.
“With that insight, you also get incited, you get [angry] that they don’t have a voice, they don’t have an outlet, they don’t have any programs, they don’t have a lot of the resources that men get,” said Vasquez. “The majority of the programs get tailored to men, so the women always get left out and they get the leftovers. We wanted to make sure that, hey, if we expand on an endeavor, we have to make sure that it’s for the women so that the women can have equal access and equal opportunity and an equal platform.”
The Paper Trail is the first incarcerated person-run newspaper in a women’s institution nationwide. Each month, the governor’s office and every single warden get a copy for free, offering a chance to read about motherhood in prison, the latest ‘it’ item inside, or how ice is not accessible even on 100-degree days.
“The bigger vision for our prison journalism programs in California is that all of the incarcerated get to know what’s happening at all the other facilities to see what’s working and how the California model is operating and also what gaps there are in the system,” said Vasquez.
Together, the editorial board and its contributing writers are hoping to use the transformative power of journalism to bring about change, even from behind bars.
“One thing that I really love about what we do is the unique perspectives that people bring. And we want to incorporate as many voices as we can in what we put out to the world,” said Bray.
If you would like to make a donation to “The Paper Trail” or access the latest publication, you can do so by visiting the CCWF Paper Trail website.
