Award-winning incarcerated journalist, Juan Moreno Haines, 66, has a new title. Once an accomplished reporter and editor at the San Quentin News, he has risen to the ranks of editor-in-chief of the outside publication Solitary Watch.
“Naming Juan Haines editor-in-chief is among the most important things we have ever done,” Solitary Watch Director Jean Casella wrote in a press release.
Casella said she hoped hiring Haines to lead the publication would create a more direct pipeline to incarcerated persons, enabling those impacted by the prison system to tell their stories more easily.
“I was writing for the incarcerated to give them pathways home,” Haines said about his 15 years working as a reporter and senior editor for the San Quentin News. “Now, for Solitary Watch, I write for the outside people to make them aware of the harsh prison condition that really don’t have to exist.”
Haines, a fixture of the media center at San Quentin and the wider landscape of incarcerated journalists in America has a reputation for his dogged reporting, his prolific prose, and his incongruous height: though he measures only 5’5″, the African American journalist has a reputation as a force of nature. Haines’ ascent to editor-in-chief did not come easily.
“I was teased as a child for my size, being the little squirt I was,” Haines laughed. Eventually, he “turned crook” at age 25. This turn had landed him in prison for bank robbery, where he has spent the last 27 years.
Haines grew up in a military family in San Diego and eventually joined the Navy. In school, he never thought that he would gravitate toward writing. That happened after he transferred to San Quentin, where he discovered his passion for writing.
Since then, he has received multiple awards for his journalism, and been published by many outside publications, like the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, The American Project, Next City, The Appeal, the Oakland Post, LA Progressive, CalMatters, Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal, Above the Law, UCLA Law Review, and Life of the Law, among others.
Haines has used his platform to write about issues that concern the prison population, and in so doing, has turned into a voice for the voiceless. He does not shy away from controversial topics, and has produced groundbreaking reporting on subjects such as the outbreaks of Legionnaires Disease and Covid at San Quentin. He uses his platforms and the power of the pen to make sure the world knows about life in prison.
As senior editor for the San Quentin News, Haines had a reputation as the number two person, second only to the editor-in-chief. These days, he works on cultivating the number one spot.
“I’m more of a reporter,” said Haines. “Now, out of a staff of six, with five interns, I have to keep up with what everyone is doing. I’m getting acclimated to it all.”
