Inside/Out and beyond: Journalist reflects on her experience covering life at San Quentin

Inside/Out… and beyond

CAL Grad school journalist reflects
on her experience covering life
at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center

By Wendy Medina ❡ Bay City News

The same questions always loom. Would asking be respectful or acceptable? “How is it in there? Is it scary? How does it work? What does it look like inside?” ❡ Admittedly I was a bit hesitant when filling out my clearance form — to willingly go into a place associated with violence and suffering, home to some of the most notorious criminals in California. ❡ Despite my fears, I was eager to learn about the men who ran the San Quentin News inside California’s oldest prison, now renamed the “San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.”

My original idea revolved around a year-long editing project, during which I would edit all different media of my J School classmates’ theses. I had plans to further develop the logistics with my first advisor; however, that fell apart after that advisor unexpectedly exited from the J-school. I’m grateful to Professor Willliam Drummond for taking on the responsibility and immediately offering several project ideas relating to his deep connection with San Quentin Prison.

In July 2023, Drummond introduced me to Katherine Rowlands, owner and publisher of Bay City News (BCN), who already had several project ideas ready to go, and in hearing my editing vision, Rowlands helped merge my skill set with website development. It was during a meeting with Drummond and Rowlands that we fully formulated the idea to design a new section on Local News Matters, the affiliate news site of BCN, exclusive to prison journalism, specifically highlighting award-winning journalist Steve Brooks, a beneficiary of the the California Local News Fellowship. Having zero knowledge about San Quentin or their newspaper, and zero experience as a project manager, I found the job daunting, but I was thrilled to take on the challenge.

Immediately, I began doing research: seeking website design inspiration, creating several mockup banners for the section’s homepage, and gathering ideas for a user-friendly layout. I was simultaneously enrolled in a coding class, which was immensely helpful for SEO and back-end design. There was no blueprint on how the section should look, only that Brooks would serve as anchor to the page. Beyond that, I was allowed to pursue my own creative direction.

A no-process process

It was a few weeks before my clearance form was approved. During that time, I essentially constructed the bones of Inside/Out; all that remained was to populate the site. As an editor, I’ve never thought too much about my editing process; I simply enjoy immersing myself when working. I took a similar approach as I built this website. It amounted to a no-process process. However, I did know I wanted to spotlight transgender life in prison, and also create subsections of each individual medium of journalism being created at San Quentin, not just the print version of San Quentin News.

I learned to request permissions to republish content, starting with San Quentin News’ primary stakeholder, Pollen Initiative, formerly known as Friends of San Quentin News. Next we reached an agreement with Ear Hustle and the Prison Journalism Project, headquartered at Northwestern University and founded by former UC Berkeley lecturer Yukari Kane. Other requests failed. After several weeks of lengthy emails, Inside/Out started to look alive with all the content we were allowed to republish. I experimented with stills from Forward This Productions videos, as we had no copyright clearance for any images at this point. I made different banners and graphics with the little images I could use as a space holder, getting a feel of what colors worked with LNM’s brand identity. I even researched color theory to have a deeper understanding of aesthetic appeal and how to draw a reader into a specific element.

A weekly meeting was set up with the Bay City News team, Drummond and myself to discuss ideas, questions, updates or roadblocks about Inside/Out. We used the meeting to talk through any vision we had for the site and troubleshoot what would work and what didn’t. It was helpful to get perspectives from a photo editor or data editor that I might not have considered from my own point of view. The first few months of those meetings were, in effect, my weekly crash course on project management. I would take their suggestions and make them my own, updating the team on any progress I had made before I could step foot inside the prison.

Going inside ‘The Q’

I was cleared for entry to San Quentin at the end of September. After a 32-minute ride from the UC Berkeley campus and a scenic view of the Bay across the Richmond Bridge, the road narrows into a two-way that cuts through expensive homes sitting on the cliffside of Point San Quentin. At the end of the road is a gated entrance and the first checkpoint to enter “The Q,” but not before arriving at the visitor parking lot opposite the U.S. Post Office. The view from the lot allows one to view the yellow prison buildings along the water’s edge prison. To the left are picturesque views of the Bay and the rolling hills of Corte Madera across the water; to the right, one sees barbed wire fences, a watch tower and the Norman Castle entrance to what’s called the Count Gate.

Upon reaching the entrance, volunteers present photo identification to the correctional officer. Volunteers like me must be accompanied by a Brown Card holder, in this case professor Drummond, who holds a higher clearance level.

IDs are compared to a computer list by the correctional officer, who confirms the clearance. Immediately after a quick sign-in, collecting a visitor badge and receiving an invisible ink stamp on the wrist, we volunteers enter a security gate enclosure that allows six visitors at a time to enter after presenting their ID next to their face to a correctional officer inside a glass-encased booth. We are not patted down nor checked by a metal detector.

After the buzzer to open the gate sounds, we finally make it inside to see a different world of manicured lawns, palm trees and splashes of violet and crimson flowers adorning the pathway. Despite the change in view, the guard rails surrounding the courtyard quickly remind you where you are. At the end of the walkway is Building 22, a group of the last original remaining buildings from 1852 and home of the Dungeon, a brick chamber comprising 14 cells dating from the 19^th century, and nearby stands a $136 million hospital built in 2009.

We make a right and the road takes a steep turn downhill to the Lower Yard. Perhaps the most intimidating part is crossing the yard during recreation time when dozens of men in prison garb are outside and staring, merely out of curiosity. We pass by open latrines.

Checkpoint No. 4 comes after crossing the yard and passing two large metal fences that are locked once recreation time ends. We reach a cluster of classroom bungalows, known as the Education Center, where Mount Tamalpais College, a community college program for the incarcerated, hosts its classes. There we sign in again and have the last call to use a restroom or to get a drink of water. Inside the Education Center a correctional officer might be playing rap music and chatting with residents; college professors might be making their way into their classroom, and eager prison residents might be hurrying to their next class with folded up notebooks and pens secured behind their ears.

A short distance away just beyond the bungalows is our final destination: the Media Center, a bare gray concrete building with a single black metal door. Inside is the San Quentin News newsroom, its video affiliate, Forward This Productions, is located in another room outfitted with iMac desktops for video editing and a soundproof studio for the Ear Hustle and Uncuffed podcasts, where residents often work on music or audio projects.

The men inside the newsroom are often hunched over their computers working on their next article when we enter, happy to greet the Cal students that Drummond brings in every week.

At the start of our visit, we all take a seat around the large conference table in the center of the room and the SQNews editor-in-chief leads the discussion. Every week the room is asked a thought-provoking question — from reexamining a prior story with newfound knowledge to what would be the first step to solving world peace — everyone goes around the room with their answer to the ice-breaker question.

Soon after, we are relieved to be able to help with stories in the queue that need a round of editing. Close to two hours goes by in what feels like 10 minutes, and oftentimes only one story gets completed after intermittent discussion with the writers. Because many found a passion for reporting while inside, the whole session can primarily be a learning experience on the part of the Cal visitors as well as the prison journalists.

Brooks, who would soon be selected as a fellow for UC Berkeley’s California Local News Reporting project, said something that I’ll always remember: “There is a semblance of humanity and normalcy in our newsroom.” It was a bittersweet statement because while it’s a reminder of our shared humanity interacting in this newsroom, it’s very apparent everywhere else the men in prison are not extended the same humanity.

No phones, no texting, no internet

Because this is a bureaucratic institution, the speed with which requests are processed, clearance forms are approved and rules are established, is painstakingly slow. Documents need to be approved by different tiers of authority through the course of weeks, oftentimes left forgotten on someone’s desk under piles of paperwork, prompting the need for another request.

No internet access is allowed; thus, no prison writers can do web searches; no phone or text communication between volunteers and newsroom staff is allowed. Volunteers are not allowed to bring in electronics of any kind. Brown Card holders may bring in flash drives containing research documents for articles being written. Volunteers may not write any articles pertaining to San Quentin. “Fraternization” with prisoners is prohibited and constitutes grounds for getting barred from entry. Shaking hands is okay. But no hugging.

Despite all these rules, I showed up every week to work with Brooks and the rest of the staff to provide them a wider platform to make their stories heard. I showed up for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, after Drummond’s class and the semester were completed, because this became something more than just a project. It was unbelievably taxing to find answers to many questions we came across while building Inside/Out, but seeing as how San Quentin News was the only light ahead of a long tunnel for many of these men, it was only right that I could help find those answers in some way.

I even managed to get the attention of a team of four correctional officers headed in my direction after I was spotted with a camera, taking pictures from the visitor parking lot. While I knew any type of camera equipment is not allowed on CDCR grounds without the prior permissions, I didn’t think I’d get such a warm welcome from almost half a mile away. The officers asked what I was doing, who I was with and what the pictures were for. After quickly presenting my student ID, they nodded and left.

On the outside, I was thoroughly immersed into this project manager role as my team’s confidence in me grew. I quickly fell into the groove of developing risk mitigation strategies, working closely with stakeholders, creating documentation to keep stakeholders updated. This was something I had never done before, and with so much at stake, I felt a significant internal pressure to deliver something I would genuinely be proud of.

In December 2023, Brooks, then-editor-in-chief of San Quentin News was suspended from his position as editor-in-chief and banned from the Media Center. Only two months into the start of the project, the main subject of my work was no longer accessible, without any way to communicate with him or know exactly what was going on. We only received a brief official email from Brooks that advised that the public information officer ordered “all GTL tablet communication between media personnel, advisers and volunteers cease.”

A month before, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation introduced Global Tel Link digital tablets to the San Quentin population for the first time, allowing residents email and text communication with the outside world. According to four different writers who did not wish to be identified, Brooks was fired because one of his staff members was having “inappropriate communications with a volunteer,” and the responsibility to be on top of his people was on Brooks. In hushed conversations, Brooks was allegedly set up because he was going places, specifically being paroled soon for all his work as a journalist. The anonymous writers further explained that it isn’t uncommon for jealousy to cause someone to ruin a person’s chance at release after seeing them excel and perhaps get a sooner parole date.

Vagueness is a tool

The fallout of Brooks’ departure allegedly came in the form of a three-day solitary confinement sentence to the newsroom staffer who was supposedly responsible for the inappropriate texts. Without a doubt, there was more to the punishment, however the men were very cautious about the things they shared, as around the same time a new video surveillance system was also being installed.

A week after Brooks’ termination, a forwarded email was sent to all volunteers, issuing a complete ban on all communication with incarcerated people that does not occur during a scheduled visit. “Volunteers that come into the institution are not allowed to communicate with incarcerated people through the phone, U.S. mail or their networked tablet,” read the brief email. No other details were provided about the termination of the former editor-in-chief. Brooks had won the newspaper numerous awards in his tenure. His name was not brought up in the newsroom again.

A few weeks went by before I heard from Brooks. I held on to hope my project would not fall apart based on my prior interactions with him; he struck me as someone who would keep their word and was entirely invested to see this to its completion. Luckily, his power of attorney, a Ph.D. professor at College of Marin, has served as a point of contact since Brooks’ exile, delivering his articles or relaying any messages necessary.

Ultimately, basic clear communication was the most challenging aspect of an institution that operates in the shadows. The CDCR uses vagueness to its advantage, not only to its residents, but towards advisors and volunteers. On Super Bowl Sunday, we arrived at the prison, were allowed inside, escorted to the newsroom, only to be told the residents were on “modified schedule,” otherwise known as lockdown. No warning, no notice, not a word uttered when being escorted — the perfect summation of my interactions with San Quentin officials.

A few weeks after the site went live in February, the Inside/Out team discussed including an appeal to readers to get involved and potentially become volunteers at San Quentin. The issue of these journalists’ criminal convictions came up. In order to proactively curb the possibility of hateful or inflammatory comments, we made the editorial decision to have comments turned off for the entire section and on subsequent articles by Brooks.

The process of getting the proper clearance forms to publish continues. Additionally, other ideas for reader interaction are in the works, including creating a section for “Letters to the Editor,” an interactive map of the prison and a potential section of articles from incarcerated journalists from other California prisons.

There are two updates to the site that are simultaneously underway, including a section of artwork from Artwork Initiative, a platform headed by a San Quentin resident. Alongside their art, Brooks was sounded out to write the artist profiles. But the wheels have been turning very slowly. Additionally, we are working to get the appropriate credits for a gallery of death row pictures, since the death sentence has been paused since 2019 when San Quentin closed its execution chambers.

Achievements

Thankfully, my role as a project manager felt very natural to me even as I was learning along the way. I’m grateful that my team at Bay City News had as much confidence in me to allow me free rein without ever really knowing what the webpage looked like until the four-month mark, when we were close to launching.

Webpage design is something that has always interested me, so while it was an intense process, it was very rewarding to see the final product. The site was launched on Feb. 7, 2024, along with the official UC Berkeley J-school announcement that Brooks had been selected as a CA Local News Reporting Fellow. I printed out copies of the website to distribute to the San Quentin News staff and was met with awe and gratitude that they were being highlighted on a publication outside. Everyone asked how I felt after finishing my project, but in all honesty, what was more momentous to me was the staff’s reaction — their respect and appreciation.

That same month, I got to see a close colleague earn his freedom after being locked up for 17 years. Another talented journalist eager to become an advocate, I invited him to be a guest speaker for my Race and Journalism class. It was almost a cathartic experience for my class the way his story resonated with them. A one-hour discussion quickly turned into two, and even after class was over, many stayed to talk with him. The joy on his face as he answered question after question was all the thanks I needed.

On March 15, the English and Spanish Journalism Guild at San Quentin held their 2024 graduation to honor this year’s cohort of rising journalists. But before the class got their diplomas, they set aside a small portion of the ceremony to honor volunteers that have made significant contributions to their journalistic journey. “The first person we want to start off with is Wendy Medina,” announced Bostyon Johnson, managing editor of San Quentin News. Caught off guard, I looked around the crowd confused, as if I were looking for another Wendy. Next thing I knew, I was walking down the aisle to the podium to accept my award, as Johnson continued with kind remarks I did not hear because I’m certain I got stage fright blackout.

It was heartwarming, to say the least, the impact I’ve had on these men, as the auditorium resounded in applause as my picture was being taken with my certificate. It never really dawned on me that my visiting the Media Center every week, my presence in the newsroom, was anything to be celebrated. I didn’t think I was doing anything by just being there and helping edit. But I felt all the love as I was up on stage, which in turn wholeheartedly made me feel proud of my project.

Seven months into my visitations, I’ve met some awe-inspiring people, edited some magnificent pieces, attended several court dates, saw multiple journalists be granted parole, witnessed the culture of silence necessary to survive inside, written a letter of support, listened to countless stories of trauma and death and endurance. Despite these men’s mistakes, the majority of them live and breathe their craft, and retain hope. Staff writer Joshua Strange casually dropped another gem that has stayed with me, “Being in the newsroom helps me feel like I’m serving my time instead of just enduring my time.”

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