Job Type: Part-time, contract
Pay rate: $35/hour, estimated at 60-90 hours per quarter (averaging 20–30 hours per month)
Location: Remote

Prison Journalism Project (PJP) is looking for a part-time contract editor to lead a new expansion of our coverage of postsecondary education, workforce training and reentry opportunities for people impacted by incarceration.

PJP recently received funding to expand this work with the goal of providing practical, trustworthy information that helps incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people understand what opportunities exist, how others have navigated them and what concrete steps they can take to pursue education, training and employment.

This editor will commission and edit 1-2 stories per month for PJP’s online publication and develop a new quarterly section for PJP Inside, our publication for incarcerated readers. The reporting will be grounded in firsthand experience and written primarily by writers directly impacted by incarceration.

We’re estimating the work to even out to 20-30 hours a month, but it will likely ebb and flow according to our quarterly publication schedule. 

Key Responsibilities

  • Commission and edit at least one story per month in between PJP Inside issues on education, training or employment pathways for PJP’s online publication.
  • Recruit and manage formerly incarcerated freelance writers from assignment through publication, including developing story angles, editing drafts and identifying additional reporting as needed.
  • Develop a recurring package for each quarterly issue of PJP Inside, including:
    • a feature story about an education, training or employment program or pathway;
    • a companion Q&A with a successful program participant, leader or anyone else appropriate, who can offer practical information for readers;
    • a professional-skills activity that helps readers practice a concrete education or workforce-readiness skill.
  • Make sure coverage is clear, useful and accessible to readers who may be unfamiliar with education, workforce or reentry systems.
  • Coordinate with PJP’s editorial and learning teams, as well as outside contractors working on Spanish translation and educator resources.
  • Manage assignments, deadlines and grant deliverables independently.

Qualifications

  • At least five years of experience as a journalist or editor.
  • Strong experience commissioning, developing and empathetically editing reported stories, including structural and line editing.
  • Experience managing freelance writers from assignment through publication.
  • Ability to develop clear, practical educational or workforce-readiness content.
  • Strong independent project-management skills.
  • Experience working with people directly impacted by incarceration is a plus.
  • Familiarity with reentry, prison education, higher education or workforce development is a strong plus.
  • Spanish-language fluency is a plus.

More About PJP

Prison Journalism Project trains incarcerated writers in journalism and publishes their work for a broad public audience.

Founded in April 2020, PJP is the country’s largest publisher of writing from inside prisons. We publish reported stories, essays and firsthand accounts written by incarcerated people that document daily life inside prisons and the broader systems that shape it.

PJP has published more than 2,600 stories by over 830 writers. Our programs reach writers in 44 states across 261 facilities, and more than 200 writers are currently enrolled in our learning programs. Our writers’ reporting has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, USA Today, The Marshall Project and dozens of regional outlets. Our quarterly publication, PJP Inside, reaches more than 17,000 incarcerated readers per issue.

Equal Opportunity

PJP is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an environment in which people of all identities are welcomed, valued and supported. We seek to build an organization with voices and experiences that reflect our society and the communities we serve.

Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply.

Application Requirements (Deadline: Aug. 28, 2026)

Please fill out a short application and complete an editing assessment. 

Please do not use AI for any aspect of the application.

Questions? Reach out to yukari@prisonjournalismproject.org