Juan Adolfo Fernández Saínz/CPJ Guest Blogger

Juan Adolfo Fernández Saínz, was a correspondent for the independent news agency Patria when he was arrested in 2003. He was given 15 years in jail, of which he served seven under terrible conditions with little medical care and inadequate food before being exiled in Spain.

Features & Analysis
CPJ's Journalist Assistance program helped support the families of Cuban journalists held in jails like this one on the outskirts of Havana. (Reuters/Claudia Daut)

Cuban journalist Fernández Saínz: I was a reporter in prison

I went to prison for practicing independent journalism in Cuba. As soon as you get there, you must prepare yourself to narrate the horrors of the hellhole you’ve ended up in. And Cuban prisons are horrendous. But the horrors start not one step back in the penal tribunal, not two steps back with the police…

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