Inmate/Paño Arte Gallery

Since the first issue of El Placazo was published on July 16th 1994, inmate / paño (handerkerchief) art has been an integral part of El Placazo Community Newspaper. Over the years, El Placazo has collected a massive archive of inmate / paño art and writings. We are proud and honored now to be able to share these amazing images and words with the world through our website.

People often ask how we have manged to make contact with so many talented inmates from throughout the country. The honest answer is that we don't know. At some point in the early history of El Placazo, a community resident came by and aksed if we could send a copy of El Placazo to their uncle, son, or mother in jail. That inmate passed their issue to another inmate, and it's been a domino affect ever since. Currenty, El Placazo is sent to close to 200 inmates throughout Texas and the U.S. The images in this gallery were created and sent to us by inmates who are monthly subscribers of El Placazo; most of whom are from the West and Southside of San Antonio.

We are currently recruiting volunteers to help with our initiative to preserve and archive our inmate art and writing collection. If you have experience with scanning images or archiving materials, please contact us here at San Anto. We will soon include a contextual history of inmate art, and will update the gallery on a monthly basis. We hope you enjoy these images.

Fransisco Gonzalez

Andy Soto

Jose C. Puente

Moreno