| If you would like more information about PLN you can call our office at (206) 246-1022, or you can email us at mailto:info@prisonlegalnews.org . |
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| Q. What is Prison Legal News? |
| A. Prison Legal News is an independent 48-page monthly magazine that provides a cutting edge review and analysis of prisoner rights, court rulings and news about prison issues. PLN has a national (U.S.) focus on both state and federal prison issues, with international coverage as well. PLN provides information that enables prisoners and other concerned individuals and organizations to seek the protection and enforcement of prisoner's rights at the grass roots level. |
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| Q. What sorts of issues does PLN cover? |
A. Prison Legal News' coverage includes court access, disciplinary hearings, prison conditions, excessive force, mail censorship, jail litigation, visiting, telephones, religious freedom, free speech, prison rape, abuse of women prisoners, retaliation, the Prison Legal Reform Act (PLRA), medical treatment, AIDS, the death penalty, control units, attorney fees and much more.Sample copies of the most recent copies of PLN are posted on our homepage in PDF format.
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| Q. What is PLN's circulation and readership? |
| A. As of September 2008 PLN has a circulation of approximately 7,000 hardcopy issues per month. PLN also has subscribers in European and Asian countries. About 65% of PLN's subscribers are state and federal prisoners, and PLN has prisoner subscribers in all fifty states. Based on PLN's November 2005 reader survey each subscriber's magazine is read by an average of almost 9 people, so the monthly readership of PLN is around 63,000. PLN also posts all of its back issues on its website. Those back issues have the complete content of the magazine, including all advertisements. |
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| Q. What type of people subscribe to Prison Legal News? |
| A. About 65% of PLN's subscribers are state and federal prisoners. The balance of PLN's subscribers include civil and criminal trial and appellate attorneys, public defender agencies, journalists, academics, paralegals, university and law school libraries, prison law libraries, investment bankers, prison rights activists, students, family members of prisoners and concerned private individuals. State-level government officials also subscribe to PLN, including attorney generals, prison wardens, and members of other prisoner related agencies. |
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| Q. How does PLN support its operations? |
| A. PLN is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is primarily funded by subscription and advertising revenue, foundation grants, book sales and individual donations. Subscription rates for prisoners are kept at a near subsidized level by the higher rates for non-prisoners and advertising revenue that enable PLN to cover its operating costs. PLN's financial self-sufficiency enables it to maintain complete editorial independence. We also gratefully accept donations and grants and receives grants from several large foundations. |
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| Q. Does PLN have prisoner oriented advertising? |
A. Yes. Each issue of PLN has numerous advertisements from businesses and organizations nationwide that provide prisoner related personal and legal services and books. PLN only accepts advertisements from sources that provide their products or services in a manner consistent with their claims. PLN does turn down ads for products or services that were not reputable or were contrary to the editorial content of PLN. We are not a profit-driven publication. Therefore we can turn down advertising without having to worry about antagonizing shareholders expecting a satisfactory return on their investment.
Our website accepts advertising for a wide variety of products and services that are of interest to our website users.
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| Q. What does an advertisement in PLN cost? |
A. PLN's prisoner advertising rates can be viewed by going to the tab that says "advertising." Contact us about website advertising.
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| Q. Does PLN sell books? |
| A. Yes. PLN directly sells about four dozen prisoner oriented books, and indexes of past PLN issues. You can either order over the Internet with your Visa or MasterCard, you can call PLN's office and order with your Visa or MasterCard, or you can print the pages on your printer and mail your order to PLN with the appropriate payment. A flat shipping and handling charge of $6 applies to all book and index orders under $50. Orders $50 and more are shipped at no extra charge. All PLN book and index orders are mailed at the U.S. Postal Service's media mail rate with the delivery confirmation option. Delivery confirmation provides PLN with a legal record of when a book and index purchase is delivered to a prison facility. This protects both the purchaser and PLN from prison mail rooms that are not conscientious in delivering mail. |
Go to the PLN bookstore for more details.
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| Q. How long has PLN been published? |
| A. PLN has been published monthly since May 1990. |
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| Q. How is PLN produced? |
| A. Prison Legal News has six full-time employees. We also have work study students, volunteers, part time employees and others who help as needed. |
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| Q. How does PLN get the information published in the magazine? |
| A. PLN is on all the online news feeds for prison and jail news. PLN has a subscription exchange arrangement with scores of other publications, from well-known alternative magazines to very small, independent newsletters. Another valuable source of information is the scores of newspaper clippings about prison related matters mailed to PLN by readers in the U.S. and other countries. Imprisoned PLN readers also regularly send first person accounts that provide PLN with "inside scoops." Many readers also send "unpublished" court rulings that are a valuable source of not normally reported information. PLN also investigates, develops and breaks news stories, some of which have been picked up by other media. Online research by PLN staff are also a valuable source of news stories. |
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| Q. Who writes for PLN? |
| A. PLN has "regular" writers and also solicits and publishes articles written by other writers, many of them in prison. Authors and activists who have published in PLN include: Noam Chomsky, Dan Savage, William Kunstler and Ron Kuby, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Ken Silverstein, Jennifer Vogel, Adrian Lomax, Raymond Luc Levasseur, John Perotti, Willie Wisely, Christian Parenti, William Greider, Noelle Hanrahan, and many, many more. |
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| Q. Where is PLN located? |
| A. PLN's business office is located in Seattle, Washington. PLN's editorial office is located in Brattleboro, Vermont. |
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| Q. Who manages PLN''s day-to-day operation? |
| A. PLN's "manager" is executive director is Don Miniken. Don can be emailed by clicking on his highlighted name, or contacted by the telephone and fax numbers, or address listed on PLN's Contacts webpage. |
| Web: Contact Us | Email: mailto:dminiken@prisonlegalnews.org |
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| Q. Who is PLN's editor? |
| A. PLN is edited by Paul Wright.He can be contacted by the information listed on PLN's Contacts webpage. |
| Web: Contact Us | Email: mailto:pwright@prisonlegalnews.org |
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| Q. What other media work does PLN do? |
| A. In addition to this website and its monthly magazine PLN published a critically acclaimed anthology titled The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry. PLN''s second book: Prison Nation was released in January 2003. PLN's next book: Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Imprisonment was published by The New Press in Janaury, 2008. PLN's editor, Paul Wright, and our associate editor Alex Friedmann, do interviews with journalists and media personalities seeking information about prison issues. We also work with other media to develop and distribute prison related stories and news items. Click here to go to PLN's Media Interview Page. |
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| Q. How much does a subscription to PLN cost? |
| A. Subscriptions are $18/yr for prisoners, $25/yr for non-incarcerated individuals, and $60/yr for lawyers, government agencies and corporations. PLN regularly offers one or more special subscription "specials" at any given time. The current subscription "specials" are listed on the Subscription webpage accessed by clicking on Subscribe Today! |
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| Q. How do I subscribe by mail to PLN? |
| A. You can print out the Subscription Order Form and mail it with the a check or money order for the correct amount to: Prison Legal News 2400 NW 80th Street #148 Seattle, WA 98117-4449 |
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| Q. How do I subscribe by phone mail to PLN? |
| A. If you have a Visa or MasterCard you can order a subscription and/or any book sold directly by PLN by calling our office at 206-246-1022 from 8:30am to 5:00pm (West Coast Time) Monday through Friday. |
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| Q. What if I don't want to subscribe, but would like to make a contribution to Prison Legal News? |
| A. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, donations to PLN can be tax deductible. The same procedures are followed to mail or phone a contribution to PLN that are outlined above to subscribe. You can also donate online via our homepage. In addition to accepting contributions at any time of the year, PLN has an annual fund drive. Contributions are used to fund PLN promotional programs and to ensure that low cost subscriptions can continue to be offered to prisoners. |
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| Q. If I live in the Seattle area, can I do volunteer work for PLN? |
| A. Sure. PLN has a regular need for people willing to volunteer a few hours of their time to do envelope stuffing and sorting, particularly during the last week of each month. That time enables PLN's paid staff to focus on the business of running an internationally distributed magazine. As a non-profit organization, PLN is also always interested in people with specialized skills related to fundraising. Contact PLN's office at 206-246-1022 if you have any questions related to volunteering a few hours of your time or you want to contribute your specialized fundraising skills. |
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Thanks for having an interest in Prison Legal News, and we hope you decide to support our important work by subscribing, advertising, or contributing time or money to PLN!
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