The Desert Press

The first issue of The Desert Press was published in August of 1933 by the inmates of the Arizona State Prison in Florence, Arizona. This was in the waning years of Prohibition, which was adopted as the 21^st Amendment on December 5^th of 1933. This was also just 4 months after Winnie Ruth Judd, the infamous “Trunk Murderess”, was nearly hanged for her alleged crimes, but was commuted to the Arizona State Hospital for treatment of her mental illness instead. It was also the year of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, a topic mentioned frequently in the first several issues of the newspaper.

The newspaper was started by Cecil C. Robbins, Jefferson M. Snow, and Joseph E. Smith. Robbins, a car thief who had escaped from the prison in Florence in 1928, was the publisher and editor. The newspaper was published with approval by then Warden A.G. Walker and received no prison funding. The paper stated it was written to “…give the inmates an opportunity for self-expression…” and to “…encourage their desire to study and broaden their scope of knowledge.”  Subscriptions were available for $1 per year and advertising space was offered. Submissions to the paper were sought from both inside and outside the prison walls.

The newspaper covered inmate concerns, church and meeting news, sports, poetry, fiction, and other goings-on around the prison, including from the women’s ward. A column titled “Psychology” by D.E.B. was included in nearly every issue and addressed mental health and behavioral concerns of inmates and criminals. Population statistics in the August 1933 issue showed that there were 10 women and 578 men housed at Florence.  

Issues of the paper were sometimes swapped with other newspapers, both prison and public, from around the country. In the January 1934 issue, a plea went out for books for their library because the prison had no money for such purchases. However, in the December 1933 issue, it was mentioned that a new education department was established, where inmates could take classes three days a week on English, Spanish, Music, and Math.

It is unclear when publication of The Desert Press stopped but mentions of financial struggles began in the late months of 1933. Despite support of equipment, ink, and type from other newspapers, the newspaper ceased publication sometime before 1937.

Later newspapers and journals written by the inmates of the Arizona State Prison include the Cactus Blossom, El Saguaro, and La Roca, an award-winning literary journal that was published between 1974 and 1992.