Critical Examination of The Echo - Prison Publication of the Texas Department of Corrections

• NCJ Number: 70473
• Author(s): D A Hadeler
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 68 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. North Texas State University - masters thesis

Annotation

The role of a prison publication, published by and for the inmates of the Texas Department of Corrections, is analyzed as an effective information medium and a positive force for rehabilitation.

Abstract

One of the most outstanding prison publications in the United States, and the recipient of a long list of awards in the penal press field, with a readership which includes the entire Texas prison population (approximately 21,000 inmates) and was analyzed (1) as a news dissemination vehicle and (2) as an outlet for the inmates' creative self-expression. Through the distribution of a questionnaire to people concerned with the publication of the newspaper in question, as well as personal interviews with the same individuals, the hypotheses of this study that the publication was an effective source of institutional news for the inmates as well as an aid to the prison administration in communicating with the prison population, were confirmed. Because of the small number of inmates participating in the actual publication of the newspaper and submitting contributions, the effectiveness of the newspaper as an outlet for the inmates' creative expression has been somewhat less than it might be. However, the lack of censorship on the part of the prison administration and the quality of the publication itself are likely to succeed in overcoming the present reluctance of inmates to cooperate more fully with this effort at improving the social climate within the State prison system. An appendix gives the survey instruments. Eighteen references are appended.