Art by, clockwise from top left: Dion Mbd; Gus Chan; Octavio Jones; Sydney Foster; Diego Mallo; Emily Pederson; and Susie Cagle
The Marshall Project is a nonprofit newsroom covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for our newsletters to receive all of our stories and analysis. As the debate on reproductive rights swirled in 2023, and U.S. prison conditions continued to be criticized, The Marshall Project used newfound data and in-depth story-telling to illuminate those and other vital criminal justice issues. We examined the spate of prosecutions of pregnant women in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina and published first-person accounts of the difficulty of being pregnant in prison. Our reporters combed through New York prison disciplinary records, finding that misbehavior by guards is frequently covered up, allowing many officers to avoid punishment for abusing prisoners. We brought our investigative work to new audiences, including incarcerated people, through podcasts and broadcast partnerships. We examined the murky world of parole and questioned methods used by Texas Rangers through two widely-heard podcasts, and launched a video series aimed at incarcerated audiences. We continued our commitment to narrative storytelling, describing how death row prisoners find connection through playing “Dungeons & Dragons,” and tracing the little-known “mitigation specialists” who attempt to save people from the death penalty. As a sign of our continued commitment to enriching reporting on criminal justice, we announced the launch of The Marshall Project’s second local news operation. Reporters Caleb Bedillion and Daja Henry are based in Jackson, Mississippi, and will be guided by Senior Editor Paul D’Ambrosio and Marlon Walker, managing editor, local. As with our Cleveland, Ohio, team, they will delve into untold criminal justice stories in their community and collaborate with local news organizations to expose inequities in Mississippi’s legal system. The Marshall Project, as always, remains committed to ground-breaking and fair investigative reporting, revealing the failings of the U.S. criminal justice system and drawing attention to potential reforms. As we look back at our work in 2023, we are truly grateful for readers like you. Your support is essential to our journalism.
Prison discipline
When New York repealed a law that kept secret the disciplinary records of prison guards in 2020, we were the first newsroom to successfully use the law to get the data. Reporters Alysia Santo and Joseph Neff and Senior Editor Tom Meagher combed through thousands of pages of court documents, arbitration and officer disciplinary records. Our two-year investigation, co-published by The New York Times, found it is routine for New York corrections officers to cover up the mistreatment of prisoners, making it difficult to hold anyone accountable. In a subsequent investigation, Santo and Neff revealed that many guards dismissed for abusive behavior got their jobs back. Between 2010 and 2022, outside arbitrators reinstated three of every four guards fired for abuse or for covering it up, according to our review of 136 cases. The decisions heavily favored prison guards, even when there was strong evidence against them.