Marshall Plan honored By Institute for Nonprofit Journalism Won two awards in the Explanatory Journalism and Investigative Journalism categories.
The organization received Explanatory Journalism Insight Award For reporting on how prosecutors used the concept of “fetal personhood” to criminalize people who gave birth during pregnancy and used drugs. Our three-part series with The New York Times, “How New York's Abusive Guards Keep Their Jobs,” won Best Investigative Journalism Award.
“These projects are shining examples of what the Marshall Project does every day: holding systems accountable through meticulous reporting and data analysis,” said Geraldine Sealey, editor-in-chief of The Marshall Project. “Thank you to the reviewers for recognizing this important work.”
Staff writer Cary Aspinwall has researched hundreds of cases in which pregnant women suspected of using drugs were prosecuted. Our reporting partners for this project include AL.com, Postal and express delivery, Mississippi Todayand frontier.
Our fetal personhood survey found that medical privacy laws like HIPAA offer little protection. In many cases, health care providers allow law enforcement to access patient information, sometimes without a warrant. We found that whether a woman went to jail often depended on where she lived, which hospital she went to and how much money she had. Most of the women accused plead guilty and were separated from their children for months or even years. Evidence and procedures are rarely challenged in court.
The Marshall Project’s three-part series, in collaboration with The New York Times and other partners, exposes the culture of impunity that protects New York prison guards. It is the first systematic investigation into the Department of Corrections' failure to discipline its officers. The investigation was led by staff members Alysia Santo and Joseph Neff and senior editor Tom Meagher, with additional reporting by Ilica Mahajan.
Our reporters reviewed more than 12 years of employee discipline data from the New York Department of Corrections and hundreds of lawsuits. The show exposes a lax culture in which prison officials accuse guards of abusing prisoners without facing consequences. When the New York Department of Corrections tries to fire guards accused of abusing inmates or covering up assaults, it fails 90 percent of the time. In many cases where guards seriously injured or killed prisoners, the department did not even attempt to punish the officers. According to our reporting, state lawmakers have introduced bills to reform the disciplinary process. Correctional officers, which bills itself as the state's most politically powerful union, shelved the bills in recent legislative sessions.
The Marshall Project was also a finalist in the Visual Journalism Insight Award for our illustrated story about how mitigation experts work to get people off death row.
The Institute for Nonprofit Journalism recognizes journalism excellence in nonprofit journalism. A total of 75 judges reviewed dozens of entries and ultimately awarded 29 awards in 11 categories.