‘I get to tell my story’: incarcerated journalists are making podcasts, going viral and winning awards

Inside San Quentin, residents are drawing mainstream audiences and shifting narratives about life behind bars

In November, Juan Moreno Haines earned a coveted promotion. The California journalist was named editor-in-chief of Solitary Watch, a non-profit news organization reporting on conditions in US prisons.

Haines helps 16 writers craft story ideas, fact-check, edit articles and navigate the many hurdles of reporting on neglect and abuse behind bars, all while dealing with a major obstacle no other media leader in America has to face: he is prohibited from directly communicating with his journalists, most of whom he has never met.