The Marshall Project was honored by the Institute for Nonprofit News with two awards in the Explanatory and Investigative Journalism categories.
The organization received the Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism for its reporting on how prosecutors are using the concept of “fetal personhood” to criminalize people who give birth and use drugs during their pregnancy. And our three-part series with The New York Times, “How New York’s Abusive Guards Keep Their Jobs,” won the Best Investigative Journalism Award.
“These projects are shining examples of what we aim to do every day at The Marshall Project: hold the system to account through meticulous reporting and data analysis,” said Geraldine Sealey, The Marshall Project’s managing editor. “Thank you to the judges for recognizing this important work.”
Staff writer Cary Aspinwall examined hundreds of cases in which pregnant women suspected of using drugs were prosecuted. Our reporting partners on this project included AL.com, The Post and Courier, Mississippi Today, and The Frontier.
Our fetal personhood investigation found that medical privacy laws like HIPAA offered little protection. In many cases, health care providers granted law enforcement access to patients’ information, sometimes without a warrant. We found that whether a woman goes to prison often depends on where she lives, what hospital she goes to, and how much money she has. Most women charged plead guilty and are separated from their children for months or even years. The evidence and procedures are rarely challenged in court.
The Marshall Project’s three-part series with The New York Times and other partners exposed the culture of impunity that protects New York’s prison guards. This was the first systemic investigation of how a correctional department fails to discipline its officers. The investigation was led by staff members Alysia Santo, Joseph Neff, and senior editor Tom Meagher, plus additional reporting by Ilica Mahajan.
Our reporters examined more than 12 years of employee discipline data from New York’s corrections department and hundreds of lawsuits. The series revealed a culture of laxity in which prison officials accused guards of abusing prisoners and then didn’t mete out consequences. When the New York corrections department tried to fire guards accused of abusing prisoners or covering up attacks, it failed 90% of the time. And in many cases in which guards badly injured or killed prisoners, the department did not even try to punish the officers. As a result of our reporting, state legislators have filed bills to reform the disciplinary process. Correctional officers, who boast the state’s most politically powerful union, stalled the bills in the most recent legislative session.
The Marshall Project also was a finalist for the Insight Award for Visual Journalism for our illustrated story about how mitigation specialists work to spare people from death row.
The Institute for Nonprofit News recognizes excellence in journalism across the field of nonprofit news. A total of 75 judges evaluated dozens of entries to give out 29 awards across 11 categories.
