May 3 is World Press Freedom Day — but press freedom for whom?

The Federal Bureau of Prisons bans incarcerated people from being journalists and most states have partially or entirely banned them from receiving compensation for their work. Their phone calls and mail are monitored and many report experiencing retaliation for their work, including random searches and sudden transfers. Despite this, journalists on the inside are writing for some of the biggest publications in the world, reporting on everything from solitary confinement, to hunger strikes, to trans rights inside prisons.

On May 3, 2024, formerly and currently incarcerated journalists Christopher Blackwell, C. Dreams, Juan Moreno Haines, and Rahsaan Thomas gathered for a discussion about the limits of first amendment rights, moderated by FSP-NWU member-organizer and criminal justice reporter Khawla Nakua. This event was co-hosted by the National Writers Union’s Freelance Solidarity Project, Prism Reports, Solitary Watch, and Empowerment Avenue.

Panelists:

Christopher William Blackwell is a Washington-based award-winning journalist currently incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center. Christopher works closely with Empowerment Ave, a nonprofit organization that uplifts the voices of incarcerated writers in the mainstream media. Christopher and his wife, Dr. Chelsea Moore, co-founded Look 2 Justice, a grassroots organization led by criminal legal system-impacted people that works to transform the legal system by providing civic education and empowerment programs for incarcerated people and their loved ones. Christopher’s work has been featured across the country in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Globe, HuffPost, Marshall Project, Insider, Jewish Currents, BuzzFeed, The Appeal, and many more. He is currently in the process of working on a book manuscript about solitary confinement.

C.Dreams is the pseudonym of Christy Perez, a journalist/writer, organizer and advocate interested in prison/criminal justice reform, LGBTQ rights, harm reduction, and government/cultural criticism. She has studied history and theology, holds multiples advanced degrees in the subject matter, and was the first transsexual woman to be admitted for study and formation with the Third Order of Carmelites of the Catholic Church in 2015. C. is a Logic(s) Columbia University Writing Fellow and a Marvel Cooke Abolition Journalism Fellow. She is also a 2023-2024 Perry Second Chances Scholar of the Thurman Perry Foundation. Her writing has appeared in Business Insider, The Appeal, Filter Magazine, HuffPost, Modern Farmer, LGBTQ Nation, ShadowProof and more.

Juan Moreno Haines is a senior contributing writer and editor at Solitary Watch, and senior editor at the award-winning San Quentin News. A member of the Society of Professional Journalists, he was awarded its Silver Heart Award for being “a voice for the voiceless.” In 2020, he received the PEN Prison Writing Contest’s Fielding A. Dawson Prize in Fiction. He has been incarcerated in California for 26 years. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Appeal, Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal, Above the Law, UCLA Law Review, Life of the Law, The Oakland Post, LA Progressive, and CalMatters, among others.

Rahsaan Thomas is the Executive Director of Empowerment Avenue, a program he created while incarcerated to meet the pre-entry needs of incarcerated writers and artists, helping them to get their voices in mainstream spaces for prevailing wages. He built the organization based on his experiences as a writer, filmmaker, and social justice advocate. He is most known for co-hosting and co-producing the Pulitzer Prize finalist and 2020 Dupont Award winning podcast, Ear Hustle, as well as appearances in United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell and the documentary What These Walls Won’t Hold. Initiate Justice credits Rahsaan with initiating the successful restoration of voting rights for people on parole in California.

Khawla Nakua is a freelance criminal justice reporter based in Canada. She covers the treatment of incarcerated Muslims as well as prison conditions, with stories including the treatment of elderly incarcerated people in Florida prisons, the lack of resources that incarcerated Muslims face during Ramadan, and the challenge of finding transitional housing in Texas that accommodate the religious and housing needs of formerly incarcerated Muslims. She has received the Goldziher Prize for Journalists for her coverage on the treatment of incarcerated Muslims as well as receiving the Fund for Investigative Journalism grant to investigate the issue of congregational prayer among Muslim inmates in Missouri prisons. She has also co-reported and work with a lot of incarcerated writers and is a member of the Freelance Solidarity Project which is an arm of the National Writer Union. Her stories have been featured on Al Jazeera, Slate Magazine, Truthout Magazine, Prism Report and Scalawag Magazine.