The Prison Mirror: How Stillwater Inmates Built America’s First Prisoner Newspaper

On August 10, 1887, fifteen men inside the Minnesota State Prison at Stillwater pooled their savings to attempt the unthinkable: launch an inmate-funded, prisoner-edited newspaper under the strict Auburn penal system. Led by a convicted forger and infamous bank robber Cole Younger, The Prison Mirror challenged contract labor, gained national reach, and set a groundbreaking legal precedent for incarcerated press freedom. Discover the true story of how a small newsroom inside prison walls forever changed Minnesota history and American penal reform.