Investigate This! | The Marshall Project

A lone correctional officer walking in a prison cell block while incarcerated people are confined in their cells.

How to Investigate Prison Staffing Trends in Your State

Our toolkit helps you report on how the widespread, long-term trend of declining prison staff affects both safety behind bars and state budgets.

What's included

Learn how the number of prison staff in your state compares to others.
Examine how some state prison systems are struggling to accommodate newly rising numbers of prisoners.
Understand how having fewer guards, without a similar decline in prison populations, makes prisons more dangerous and expensive.
And more

An illustration depicts two correctional officers dressed in gray shirts and black pants standing in front of a beige wall with barred windows high above them. At a distance in shadows lies the body of an incarcerated person wearing an orange prison jumpsuit crumpled on the floor.

Journalists: How to Report on Deaths in Jails and Prisons

When you get a tip about a death or multiple deaths in your local jail or prison, there are concrete steps you can take to start investigating.

What's included

Deaths in custody are largely underreported and reporting requirements are not enforced federally or in most states.
As a person moves through the criminal justice system, many events trigger documentation that you can request.
Many researchers, lawmakers and advocates view lethal conditions behind bars as a public health emergency.
And more

An illustration shows, from left, an elephant symbolizing Republicans; simplified figures including a person stepping out with vertical bars to their right, crossed by wavy lines suggesting a flag; a woman holding a sign; a donkey symbolizing Democrats; a ballot box; and hints of barbed wire on either side of the drawing. The color scheme of the drawing is in marigold yellow, coral, blue, black and light gray.

Journalists: How to Report on the Political Opinions of People in Prisons and Jails in Your State

More than 54,000 incarcerated people in 45 states shared their views on the presidential election in The Marshall Project’s landmark political survey.

What's included

The majority of respondents identify as independent — rejecting both Democrats and Republicans.
Among White respondents, support for Donald Trump remains strong.
When Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, she won more support.
And more

An illustration featuring a series of prisoners, dressed in orange uniforms, in varying poses of illness, such as hands cupping a face, coughing into a closed fist, bending over with hands on their knees for support.

How to Investigate COVID’s Deadly Toll in Your State Prisons

Our toolkit helps you report on systemic failures and analyze the pandemic as a case study on how to be prepared for future crises.

What's included

Uncover how many people died in your local prisons and how officials failed to act on prevention.
Analyze COVID deaths to shed light on health care conditions behind bars.
Learn how to monitor prison deaths in your area.
And more

A person with shoulder-length white hair and a green shirt sits at an L-shaped desk typing on a computer and examining charts.

Resources to Power Your Criminal Justice Reporting

We’ve compiled guidance on key issues for anyone covering the legal system — from styles and standards to FOIA requests

What's included

See The Marshall Project’s approach to styles and standards for criminal justice reporting.
Learn about informed consent for reporting on vulnerable sources and why it’s so important for building trust.
Gain strategies to combat common obstructions to your records requests.
And more

Eight cropped book covers with shadows behind them appear in a grid against a cream-colored background: “The Egyptian Book of the Dead,” “The Hellbound Heart,” “Captive Nation,” “Black on Black Violence,” “Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic” and “Effective Java.” The center of the grid shows a pointer cursor hovering above an image of a tool displaying which books are banned in Ohio prisons.

How to Report on Banned Books in Prisons in Your State

Prisons are among the most restrictive reading environments in the United States.

What's included

Downloadable data
Templates to pitch your editor
Embeddable interactive
And more