As the talk on reproductive rights and jail circumstances swirled, and U.S. voters ready to decide on a brand new president, The Marshall Challenge used one-of-a-kind knowledge and in-depth reporting to light up very important felony justice points in 2024.
We introduced our investigative work to new audiences via modern storytelling and expanded partnerships, launched The Marshall Challenge’s second native information operation in Jackson, Mississippi — and introduced a 3rd for St. Louis — and held the first-ever movie competition at Sing Sing jail in New York.
We used our deep connections inside U.S. prisons and jails to survey greater than 54,000 incarcerated individuals in 45 states and the District of Columbia on their attitudes towards the presidential candidates. Nicole Lewis, Shannon Heffernan, Anna Flagg, Aala Abdullahi and David Eads gathered and analyzed the survey responses, which confirmed sturdy help for Donald Trump. We partnered with Slate to provide readers this uncommon survey of individuals in jail.
Information reporters Flagg, Andrew Rodriguez Calderón and Geoff Hing led a serious assessment of greater than 350,000 statements by Trump to zero in on his claims about immigrants, utilizing a mix of computer-aided evaluation and the work of greater than a dozen reporters to slender down their analysis. They discovered 13 main claims repeatedly made by Trump that had been false or deceptive, and reporters defined why. After the election, Flagg and Eads reported that his immigration rhetoric helped Trump on the polls.
Being pregnant and Punishment
Deep accountability reporting was exemplified by our story on false accusations of drug use in opposition to new moms due to defective assessments. Shoshana Walter discovered that one thing as benign as poppy seed salad dressing might set off a false constructive and result in mother and father being separated from their newborns — one thing that’s occurring throughout the nation. Walter additionally discovered that hospitals are giving expectant moms medicines throughout their deliveries after which reporting them to protecting companies for those self same medicine. Further reporting was achieved by Weihua Li, Andrew Rodriguez Calderón, Nakylah Carter and Catherine Odom.
Cary Aspinwall continued her ground-breaking protection of prosecutions of ladies who’ve miscarriages or stillbirths. She documented felony costs in opposition to ladies in South Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma and several other different states after a miscarriage or stillbirth for failing to hunt speedy therapy, not getting prenatal care or being accused of disposing of the fetal stays improperly.
Investing in Investigative Reporting
Working with Mom Jones, Shannon Heffernan recognized practically 100 individuals throughout the nation, virtually all of them ladies, who had been convicted of aiding or failing to cease a criminal offense by their alleged abuser. A few of them confirmed seen indicators of abuse once they had been arrested, together with one who had been shot by her abuser.
Our investigative power was evident in different tales. Cary Aspinwall, Sachi McClendon and The Frontier’s Brianna Bailey discovered that at the very least 50 individuals in jail died within the care of Oklahoma-based Flip Key Well being Clinics. Information evaluation was achieved by Geoff Hing.
Lakeidra Chavis, Daphne Duret and Joseph Neff uncovered virtually 200 allegations that regulation enforcement officers had groomed, sexually assaulted or engaged in inappropriate conduct with younger individuals within the Explorers program since 1974. Further reporting was achieved by Hing, David Eads, Weihua Li and Catherine Odom.
Duret, working with reporters at WTSP 10 Tampa Bay, investigated the usage of spit hoods by some police departments to subdue individuals in custody. There are not any nationwide reporting necessities, however reporters discovered police had used spit hoods — which slip over the pinnacle and canopy the face — on at the very least 31 individuals who died of their custody between 2013 and 2023.
Unsolved in St. Louis
In partnership with St. Louis Public Radio and APM Studies, Alysia Santo examined why 1,000 homicides from the previous decade stay unsolved in St. Louis and the way that impacts households of victims and the broader neighborhood. Reporters discovered racial disparities within the resolve charges for Black and White homicide victims, allegations of misconduct amongst some murder detectives and a scarcity of police staffing. Due to our partnerships, the story was instructed in a number of codecs, together with radio segments and a podcast. Further knowledge evaluation by Anna Flagg.
The Rise and Fall of a Black Cop
Our expertise for long-form storytelling was on show with Wilbert Cooper’s deep dive into the Black Protect police group in Cleveland and the rise and fall of a Black officer whose capturing of a younger man in 2013 helped spark a federal consent decree. Cooper, who’s from a household of Black law enforcement officials in Cleveland, discovered that by 2020 the officer was a pacesetter for reform and allied himself with Black Lives Matter. Then he was fired. Designer Bo-Received Keum’s lovely therapy of Cooper’s household photographs and artifacts added richness to the story.
How are Reformers Altering Prisons?
In “The Way forward for Prisons,” Maurice Chammah, who had visited Germany to see its jail improvements, wrote in regards to the “Restoring Promise” program at a South Carolina jail that was impressed by them. This system, put in place after a riot, matches youthful males with behavioral issues with older mentors, permits them to decide on their garments and lets members of the family herald gadgets to personalize their cells.
Psychological Well being and Felony Justice
Persevering with her examination of the intersection of psychological well being and regulation enforcement, Christie Thompson defined how some communities are sending unarmed clinicians or different civilians to some emergency calls. She collaborated with Tradeoffs, which produced The Fifth Department podcast collection on how this effort is working in Durham, N.C. Further reporting was achieved by Ryan Levi.
Thompson additionally partnered with reporters Sydney Brownstone and Esmy Jimenez at The Seattle Instances to analyze how individuals in Washington state who’re in a psychological well being care disaster wind up in jail relatively than in a therapy facility. Further reporting was achieved by Jasmyne Ricard, Weihua Li and Miyoko Wolf.
What It’s Wish to Be Transgender in Jail
Beth Schwartzapfel instructed the story of Grace Pinson, a transgender lady in a federal jail in Tucson, Arizona, constructed for males. Pinson has change into a talented jailhouse lawyer, preventing to get gender-affirming care, to be moved to a ladies’s jail and to be saved secure. Further reporting was achieved by John Washington, with knowledge evaluation by Geoff Hing.
In “What Being Trans in Jail is Actually Like,” Schwartzapfel gathered first-person tales in regards to the emotions of isolation and worry skilled by transgender people who find themselves incarcerated.
A Condemned Man’s Ideas From Loss of life Row
As a part of his persevering with protection of the dying penalty, Maurice Chammah did a remaining interview with Ramiro Gonzales days earlier than he was executed in Texas in June for the 2001 kidnapping, rape and homicide of Bridget Townsend. “After I obtained to dying row, being stigmatized as a menace to society made me wish to change, to assist others and myself,” he instructed Chammah. Further reporting was achieved by Nakylah Carter and Keri Blakinger.
Reporting From Ohio and Mississippi
We continued in 2024 to develop our dedication to native journalism. Caleb Bedillion and Daja E. Henry, led by editor Paul D’Ambrosio, went to work in our new Jackson, Mississippi, workplace, partnering with native newsrooms to dig into felony justice points very important to Mississippi residents. A type of tasks was an in-depth information to judicial races to assist voters perceive the candidates’ views and backgrounds.
Our choose information mission started with work by The Marshall Challenge – Cleveland staff to know residents’ questions in regards to the Cuyahoga County courtroom system. Responding to what residents stated they wanted, Rachel Dissell, Mark Puente, Doug Livingston and Brittany Hailer created a complete judges information in partnership with Sign Cleveland. It contains Q&As from candidates, background info and perception into courtroom operations.
The Cleveland staff additionally took a complete take a look at the juvenile justice system. Hailer and Puente, with knowledge evaluation by Livingston, investigated Cuyahoga County’s lax oversight of personal care facilities used to deal with younger individuals. Livingston and Dissell discovered that greater than 1,200 youngsters accused of great crimes within the county since 2020 had been defended by court-appointed legal professionals who lacked state-mandated {qualifications}.
The Drawback With Banning Masks at Protests
With police ready to make use of a rising array of surveillance instruments, Ilica Mahajan examined why some states are transferring to forbid protesters from carrying masks in order that they’ll’t get away with misbehavior. She discovered that masks bans seemingly make it simpler for political opponents to establish and dox individuals whereas including little worth for police. “There are many completely different instruments which might be accessible to regulation enforcement. Facial recognition is a type of instruments that it’s about expediency,” stated Nicole Napolitano, the director of analysis on the Middle for Policing Fairness.
‘The Hardest Case for Mercy’
Writing about mass shooters is fraught for journalists; many shops now keep away from specializing in the killer for worry of encouraging copycats. However there’s worth in understanding the wrenching, disturbing particulars of their lives. In “The Hardest Case for Mercy,” freelance reporter Joe Sexton supplied an inside account of the protection staff’s effort to spare the lifetime of Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who shot lifeless 17 college students and employees at his former highschool in Parkland, Florida, in 2022. The story particulars, for the primary time, the work of Cruz’s protection staff as they efficiently sought to forestall his execution.
Reaching Incarcerated Readers
The Marshall Challenge is devoted to getting our journalism into prisons and jails for our incarcerated readers. This 12 months, Lawrence Bartley and Donald Washington produced the second season of “Inside Story,” our video collection accessible to incarcerated viewers in 1,431 prisons and jails by way of tablets and amenities’ closed-circuit TV. In Episode 1, rapper Widespread talks about his work bringing music into prisons.
In Cleveland, Outreach Supervisor Louis Fields is getting our work into native prisons and jails. And our Information Inside print publication is out there in 1,604 prisons and jails in 48 states; Washington, D.C.; Vancouver, Canada; Tijuana, Mexico; and Panama Metropolis, Panama.
Taking Readers Inside Prisons
Our Life Inside essays provide individuals a glimpse of what life is like throughout and after jail for incarcerated individuals and their households. In “Love Past Bars,” photographer Camille Farrah Lenain and reporter Carla Canning launched readers to 3 {couples} who endured separation due to wrongful convictions however are lastly in a position to be collectively. These lovely picture essays seize Raymond Flanks and Cassandra Delpit throughout years of jail visits; Jules and Samantha Werkheiser with their little one; and Miguel and Silvia Solorio on the seashore.
With temperatures at record-setting ranges in 2024, Engagement Reporter Aala Abdullahi, working with the Jail Journalism Challenge, gathered first-person tales from jail journalists about how they handled the acute warmth.
Supporting Native Journalists
With the launch of Examine This!, led by Michelle Billman, our reporters and editors created and distributed a number of reporting toolkits that enable native journalists to report on a subject we’ve investigated in their very own communities. For instance, different newsrooms created 22 tales with assist from The Marshall Challenge’s election survey toolkit. An October webinar we held in partnership with The Journalist’s Useful resource titled “Protecting Felony Disenfranchisement and The Politics of Folks Behind Bars” drew greater than 50 journalists and tons of of views of the recording. Our efforts to offer journalists with knowledge and reporting tricks to make it simpler for them to inform felony justice tales will proceed in 2025.
Rising Newsletters and Audiences
Our Closing Argument e-newsletter is targeted on one very important felony justice subject every week to deepen readers’ understanding. In April, Jamiles Lartey examined solitary confinement, and the way efforts to reform the apply routinely stumble upon sensible and political hurdles. In August, he outlined how advocates are pushing for limits on farm work at Louisiana State Penitentiary, higher often known as Angola, throughout excessive warmth. Opening Assertion, our every day e-newsletter edited by Andrew Cohen, provides readers a complete view of what’s occurring within the felony justice universe.
E-newsletter Strategist Rachel Kincaid manages three common nationwide newsletters and helped develop our two native newsletters in Cleveland and Jackson, and Annaliese Griffin edits and oversees our e-newsletter manufacturing. Right here’s how one can subscribe to any of them.
Our social media technique, led by Viewers Director Ashley Dye, is to view social apps as publishing platforms in their very own proper — with a concentrate on Instagram, YouTube, Reddit and TikTok. As viewers engagement producers, Kristin Bausch and Chris Vazquez craft informative and entertaining posts, from explainer slides to short-form movies, and reply to individuals’s questions.
Leaning into YouTube this 12 months, we gained a record-setting practically 20 million views and about 46,000 new subscribers. In a YouTube Quick seen greater than 1.5 million occasions, Vazquez collaborated with Maurice Chammah to point out why some U.S. states are altering how they execute individuals.
On Instagram, readers extensively shared and mentioned Bausch’s carousel posts, like her breakdown of different disaster response applications with reporting by Christie Thompson. Reporters additionally spoke straight with readers; Shoshana Walter, with Dye’s help, participated in a preferred Reddit AMA about hospitals’ defective drug assessments that was considered greater than 600,000 occasions.
