Mission

Our purpose is to elevate the authentic stories and cultivate the intrinsic potential of those stigmatized by incarceration, through high quality journalism and storytelling, in order to inspire hope and remind us of the possibility of redemption and restoration for anyone.  To elevate their voices and promote their achievements, we support the incarcerated in developing their own media platforms while enabling their professional and interpersonal development.

Vision

​We envision a society in which those involved in the criminal justice system are included as valuable members of their communities and have access to the tools and resources they need to rehabilitate and fully participate in society.

Core Beliefs

Stigmatization vs the power of humanizing and rehabilitation

• We believe that providing an authentic window into the lives of the currently and formerly incarcerated, their stories of success and struggle, can change the way they’re viewed by society, make the criminal justice system more rehabilitative, and dramatically reduce the stigma that perpetuates barriers to their restoration.

Dignity for all

• We believe that all sides portrayed in the stories of the incarcerated deserve to be treated with fairness and dignity, and journalistic values provide a framework for achieving that goal.

Real, uncensored, unfiltered voices

• ​We believe that the real, uncensored voices of the incarcerated need to be elevated, based on their own decisions about which stories are important to tell, using their own skills in journalism and storytelling, without the filter or repackaging of mainstream media tastes to promote an inclusive narrative

Teaching to fish

• We believe that if you teach someone to fish, you feed them for a lifetime.  In everything we do, we prioritize empowering the incarcerated to achieve success through education and their capability and efforts, elevating their own voices using platforms that they build and manage.  

Accountability and integrity and trust

• We believe in transforming the system (criminal justice, carceral, and societal) to be more humane, just, rehabilitative, and restorative; and we practice a high standard of accountability and integrity to honor the trust of those in the system who we work with.  

Importance of nourishing and honoring a diverse community

• We believe that powerful systemic change occurs at the community level.  We have a duty to cultivate and nourish diverse communities of progress and honor the contributions of their members and supporters.

Collaboration over competition, lifting all boats

• We believe every voice should be elevated to make a difference. We value mission-aligned organizations and support efforts to elevate the voices of all system-impacted individuals.  We prioritize collaboration over competition and believe the progress of each part of our collective community will lift all boats.  

FoSQN Statement of Editorial Independence

We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News.  While we work with incarcerated individuals, who cannot enjoy the full freedoms and independence of those who are not incarcerated, we support and enable the independence of incarcerated-led media to the greatest degree possible. Friends of San Quentin News retains full authority over what media content we support in order to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. 

We maintain a firewall between media support decisions and all sources of revenue.  Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.  We accept gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our media support judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

Friends of San Quentin News may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains the incarcerated’s editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of media content, nor of unauthorized distribution of media content.

​Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.