La Voz del Patio – a unique newspaper created inside a prison by Spanish inmates

La Voz del Patio is a unique newspaper. For the past six years, it has been produced by a group of inmates from the Burgos prison in the north of Spain. Accompanied by professional journalists, the newspaper is published every four months in the format of a full-colour tabloid newspaper of 24 pages.

“The main goal is to give them a voice,” said Víctor Cámara, coordinator of La Voz del Patio. “Being able to participate in the process of a newspaper, interviewing important people, writing articles, it’s like an oasis within a prison for them.”

Supported and financed by two foundations, La Voz del Patio has seen 45 inmates pass through it over the past six years. “It's one of the most fascinating journalistic adventures I've ever participated in,” said Roberto Peral, a journalist involved in the project from the beginning. “It’s both a professional challenge to teach the basics of my profession to a group of people outside and working with them to produce something demanding and rigorous. But it’s also a personal satisfaction to get to know a group of people, many of them wonderful, whose life circumstances have been anything but easy.”

The latest edition of the newspaper features on its cover an interview with the prison surveillance judge of Burgos and Soria who talks about the progression of degrees, permits and other prison benefits of inmates.

“We try to help inmates distinguish the main journalistic genres, learn to differentiate information from opinion with professional honesty, and be able to correctly write an informative text based on the well-known principle of the five Ws,” explained Peral. “We also train them to distinguish which facts can become news and to judiciously prioritise the different contents of the newspaper.”

Another article from the latest issue, for example, is that of an inmate who talks about the difficulties faced on most occasions by the families of those who are to go to prison. From a personal perspective, the author reveals the suffering of the partners and children, whom it defines as the other victims.

“For these people who are deprived of liberty, giving them the opportunity to speak about what happens in prison without any kind of censorship is primordial,” said Cámara. “Those complaints that they report to us, like when they have bad food or when there is a problem with expensive phone calls, we report on. Anything can be said, as long as we maintain objectivity.”

La Voz del Patio has a print run of 7,000 copies. Some of them are sent to all the penitentiary centres in Spain, while others are distributed to universities, public and private institutions, and art and cultural centres. It is also a way of changing society's view of prisoners, a group of the population with little and sometimes negative visibility. 

“We also try to give a little visibility to a world that's, logically, is dark with limitations and people who still belong to society but are deprived of their freedom,” explained Cámara. “With this newspaper we try to raise awareness with the content we create among people who read it.”

La Voz del Patio received the Silver Medal for Penitentiary Social Merit in recognition of their work in 2021. The newspaper also pursues the purpose of serving as a tool for the improvement of skills and capacities of the inmates and as reinforcement of a series of fundamental values for their future rehabilitation.

“The newspaper has a very beneficial effect on the inmates who participate in its production,” said Peral. “It allows them to escape from the oppressive reality of prison and necessarily improves their well-being; fosters principles such as teamwork, responsibility, and perseverance; and also acquires expressive skills and a knowledge of a communication medium that can serve them well in their future lives.”

This project, a pioneer in the field of penitentiary institutions, is also part of a broader strategy. “In Spain right now, prison policy strongly advocates working with them, attempting this reintegration process, addressing their shortcomings, and training them,” explained Cámara. “With professional treatment, addressing is instilling a series of values ​​and habits so they don't fall into those mistakes again and commit those crimes.”

Since the newspaper's launch in 2019, some inmates have since been released but still continue to maintain ties with the newspaper. “We have a very good relationship with them, so we meet them outside, and they continue collaborating with the project,” said Cámara. “One of the characteristics we have had in this team is that we all get along very well. It’s one of the successes that has kept this project going for so long.”

Source of the cover photo: Emiliano Bar via Unsplash