The Silent City's Newspaper

The Silent City's Newspaper

From KFAI's MinneCulture by KFAI

April 9, 2026 · 49 min

About this episode

The episode explores the history and significance of The Prison Mirror, a newspaper created by incarcerated individuals at Stillwater Prison.

Stillwater Prison started publishing its own newspaper in 1887. All of it written, edited — even funded — by incarcerated people. It’s called The Prison Mirror. It was one of the country’s first prison papers. Today it’s one of the last. We’re taking you inside prison to hear writers past and present talk about what it’s like to cover the news behind bars. But first, you need the origin story. This story was written, reported, and produced by Michelle Bruch. Erika Janik is the managing editor of MinneCulture. Support for MinneCulture on KFAI is provided by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

People in this episode

Host: Erika Janik

Guest: Michelle Bruch

Topics covered

  • prison journalism
  • incarceration
  • history of newspapers
  • writing in prison
  • The Prison Mirror

Keywords

  • prison newspaper
  • incarcerated writers
  • Stillwater Prison
  • The Prison Mirror
  • journalism behind bars

Sponsors

Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stillwater Prison

Books & works: The Prison Mirror

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