2 months ago
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CHOWCHILLA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - At the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, a almighty caller dependable is emerging. "The Paper Trail" is simply a monthly paper written wholly by incarcerated women, giving them a accidental to stock their stories, their struggles, and their hope.
"We are hoping to amusement radical that we're besides radical you know, we made mistakes. We judge that we're suffering our consequences. But portion we're here, we tin inactive bash good. We tin inactive bash things to payment the communities," said Amber Bray, editor-in-chief of The Paper Trail.
CCWF is the largest women’s situation successful the United States, lodging conscionable implicit 2,000 people. Out of California's 34 prisons, lone 2 are for women. As of January 2023, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation oversaw astir 95,000 incarcerated people: 91,000 men and conscionable 4,000 women.
Bray says this imbalance means women’s voices and issues are often ignored by lawmakers.
"We precocious ran immoderate stories connected menopause, an contented that is benignant of being talked astir much successful society, and it impacts america too. But radical don't ever see that benignant of thing, "said Bray. "So we conscionable privation to enlarge the conversation, we privation to bring much voices to the array truthful that we tin person a much fulsome statement connected what issues are impacting the incarcerated population."
The Paper Trail is an insert wrong the San Quentin News publication, with a people organisation of 35,000 copies successful the California Department of Corrections and implicit 850,000 copies nationwide. The Pollen Initiative funds the work and is simply a nonprofit enactment dedicated to cultivating media centers wrong prisons crossed the country.
These efforts enactment the pen straight successful the hands of incarcerated individuals, empowering them to archer their ain stories alternatively than relying connected extracurricular media, portion besides opening a almighty model for the nationalist to spot inside.
"It's the accidental to entree a antithetic satellite and a antithetic perspective, which not lone creates empathy, but it besides creates community. I deliberation that's the payment of having section quality 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 clip there, helium received a batch of letters from incarcerated women that helium describes arsenic some depressing and enlightening.
"With that insight, you besides get incited, you get [angry] that they don't person a voice, they don't person an outlet, they don't person immoderate programs, they don't person a batch of the resources that men get," said Vasquez. "The bulk of the programs get tailored to men, truthful the women ever get near retired and they get the leftovers. We wanted to marque definite that, hey, if we grow connected an endeavor, we person to marque definite that it's for the women truthful that the women tin person adjacent entree and adjacent accidental and an adjacent platform."
The Paper Trail is the archetypal incarcerated person-run paper successful a women's instauration nationwide. Each month, the governor's bureau and each azygous warden get a transcript for free, offering a accidental to work astir motherhood successful prison, the latest 'it' point inside, oregon however crystal is not accessible adjacent connected 100-degree days.
"The bigger imaginativeness for our situation journalism programs successful California is that each of the incarcerated get to cognize what's happening astatine each the different facilities to spot what's moving and however the California exemplary is operating and besides what gaps determination are successful the system," said Vasquez.
Together, the editorial committee and its contributing writers are hoping to usage the transformative powerfulness of journalism to bring astir change, adjacent from down bars.
"One happening that I truly emotion astir what we bash is the unsocial perspectives that radical bring. And we privation to incorporated arsenic galore voices arsenic we tin successful what we enactment retired to the world," said Bray.
If you would similar to marque a donation to "The Paper Trail" oregon entree the latest publication, you tin bash truthful by visiting the CCWF Paper Trail website.
