Menu icon
The Marshall Project
Nonprofit journalism about criminal justice
Search
About
Newsletters
Donate
A nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system
Search
Magnifying glass
Local Network
Cleveland
Jackson
Projects
Inside Story
News Inside
Life Inside
Mauled
The Language Project
The Record
The System
Topics
Death Penalty
Immigration
Juvenile Justice
Mental Health
Policing
Politics and Reform
Race
About
About Us
Local Network
The Marshall Project Inside
News & Awards
Impact
People
Supporters
Jobs
Investigate This!
Newsletters
Events
Donate
Feedback?
Arrow
support@themarshallproject.org
News
April 17, 2018
Should America Give Refuge to Abused Women?
Trump seems to say, not anymore.
By
Julia Preston
Feature
August 30
How a Massachusetts Cop Allegedly Groomed, Controlled and Killed Sandra Birchmore
Matthew Farwell met her in a police Explorer program. Prosecutors say he abused her for years before she became pregnant and he killed her.
By
Lakeidra Chavis
Life Inside
September 22, 2016
When a Former Domestic-Violence Prosecutor Realizes Her Relative is Being Abused
“My usual insights didn’t seem to apply. I didn’t know how to help her.”
By
Deanna Paul
Feature
May 1
The Marshall Project Is Investigating Police Explorer Programs. We Want to Hear From You.
Help us report on police sexual abuse of young people in these law enforcement programs.
By
The Marshall Project
Death Sentences
January 8, 2021
What Lisa Montgomery Has In Common With Many On Death Row: Extensive Trauma.
Mental illness, childhood abuse and brain injuries affect a large share of those who face the death penalty.
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Keri Blakinger
Feature
May 1
In This Police Youth Program, a Trail of Sexual Abuse Across the U.S.
Explorer posts, overseen by the Boy Scouts, are supposed to foster an interest in policing. They have faced nearly 200 allegations of misconduct.
By
Lakeidra Chavis
,
Daphne Duret
and
Joseph Neff
News
December 28, 2015
Miami’s Notorious Jail Fights Back Against Rape
A 5-year turnaround is cited as a model of prevention.
By
Alysia Santo
Feature
March 30, 2015
Florida’s Record on Rape
A closer look at the Sunshine State’s history of undercounting, or altogether ignoring, sexual abuse in its prisons.
By
Alysia Santo
Case in Point
December 19, 2016
Unchecked and Unbalanced
The case of Clifton Harvin pits judges against judges.
By
Andrew Cohen
News
August 28, 2019
Same-Sex Couples in North Carolina Don’t Have Equal Abuse Protections
A lawsuit seeks protective orders even when queer couples don’t live together.
By
Joseph Darius Jaafari
News
October 28, 2015
Is Halloween Really More Dangerous for Kids?
A lack of evidence doesn’t stop cities from rounding up sexual offenders on the holiday.
By
Anat Rubin
News
May 1, 2018
Trump’s Quiet War on Migrant Kids
How the administration is turning child protection into law enforcement
By
Eli Hager
Q&A
September 18, 2015
‘Sex is Not a Service’
A former prostitute makes the case for busting johns.
By
Dana Goldstein
Closing Argument
July 13
How a Supreme Court Ruling Could Affect a Case Involving Police Abuse of Youth
Another court must now decide how the landmark ruling will impact the Boy Scouts abuse settlement, which involves victims of police sexual abuse.
By
Lakeidra Chavis
Closing Argument
September 14
The Domestic Abuse Survivor to Prison Pipeline
Researchers surveyed people who kill their abusers. They found several complicated reasons why survivors end up in prison because of abuse.
By
Shannon Heffernan
News
December 2, 2014
Pulling the Teeth from the Prison Rape Elimination Act
Delay, defy, defang.
By
Alysia Santo
The Lowdown
February 12, 2015
Prison Personals
How prison pen pal services became the new OkCupid.
By
Simone Weichselbaum
Life Inside
March 17, 2016
My Memories of Being in Prison with Whitey Bulger
Tales of the “pale, white-haired, geezer in a wheelchair.”
By
Nate A. Lindell
The Frame
March 13, 2017
Surviving Foster Care: 2 Brothers, 2 Different Paths
A stint in juvenile detention excluded one from the financial support that automatically went to the other.
By
Celina Fang
News
March 12, 2017
Was Evan Miller ‘The Rare Juvenile’ Who Deserved Life Without Parole?
Now 28, he’ll be re-sentenced, unless the court finds him ‘irreparably corrupt.’
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
May 6, 2021
Cadets Violently Strip Searched Us As Part of Their Training. For My Pain, I Got $325.
Willette Benford was one of several incarcerated women who sued the Illinois corrections department for using mass strip searches to train cadets. A small settlement check took her back to the shame and trauma of those incidents.
By
Willette Benford
Commentary
July 2, 2018
An Irrevocable Separation
When the government executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the welfare of their two boys was a secondary concern.
By
Robert Meeropol
News
July 25, 2018
Prison Rape Allegations Are on the Rise
But the accusations are still rarely found to be true.
By
Alysia Santo
Life Inside
September 6, 2018
My Gay Prison Gang Fights Neo-Nazis
They call us the Rainbow Warriors.
By
Dennis Mintun
Life Inside
March 1, 2018
The Everyday Chaos of Incarceration
“Nothing about life inside prison is normal.”
By
Jerry Metcalf
News
April 4, 2018
Why Are Joe Biden and the NRA Endorsing State Judges?
Wisconsin shows off the new normal in judicial elections: political, expensive and often about something else.
By
Christie Thompson
The Frame
April 25, 2018
Documenting the Hard Truths of Prison and Policing
At Tribeca Film Festival, new documentaries give voice to the incarcerated and communities struggling with crime.
By
Celina Fang
Analysis
November 2, 2018
Five Lies In Trump’s Favorite Campaign Ad
Several reasons why the Luis Bracamontes video is grossly misleading or just plain false.
By
Julia Preston
News
January 16, 2018
When Your Prison Becomes Your Paycheck
Some states are welcoming back ex-offenders to work behind bars.
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Joseph Neff
News
June 6, 2017
Justice Department Probes Alleged Abuses on Prison Transport Vans
Almost a year after our story, a preliminary investigation looks closely at one case.
By
Alysia Santo
and
Eli Hager
News
July 13, 2017
We Saw Monsters. She Saw Humans.
Scharlette Holdman, pioneering foe of the death penalty, dies at 70.
By
Maurice Chammah
Commentary
December 1, 2017
Cyntoia Brown and Our Twisted System
The process that sent a teenage sex-trafficking victim to prison for life didn’t fail. It worked as it was designed to.
By
Donovan X. Ramsey
News
February 14
After Several Deaths, Feds to Close Violent Prison Unit in Illinois
In 2022, The Marshall Project and NPR revealed deadly, dangerous and cramped conditions.
By
Christie Thompson
, The Marshall Project and
Joseph Shapiro
, NPR
Jackson Newsletter
June 20
Mississippi Court Elections: What Do You Want to Know?
Two Mississippi Supreme Court seats and other posts are up for election on Nov. 5. What would you ask the candidates?
By
The Marshall Project - Jackson
Case in Point
August 29, 2016
The Accuser’s Mom Called Her a ‘Pathological Liar.’ Nobody Told the Defense.
So George Gage sits in prison. And guess what happened to the prosecutor.
By
Andrew Cohen
Commentary
December 17, 2015
Raphael Holiday was Put to Death, and His Lawyers Should Have Tried Harder to Stop It
Gretchen Sween was hired a month before Holiday was executed. This is what she saw.
By
Gretchen Sween
News
January 28, 2021
These Young People Were Told They Could Stay in the U.S. They Might Get Deported Anyway.
Some 26,000 immigrant children who claim abuse, neglect or abandonment must remain effectively undocumented for years, despite being eligible for green cards.
By
Andrew R. Calderon
Death Sentences
February 24, 2022
How Melissa Lucio Went From Abuse Survivor to Death Row
Why some trauma victims are more likely to take responsibility for crimes, even when they may be innocent.
By
Maurice Chammah
Case in Point
January 29, 2018
Justice Poker
Sometimes capital punishment is just the luck of the draw.
By
Andrew Cohen
Feature
February 11, 2020
The Hidden Trauma of “Short Stays” in Foster Care
Every year, thousands of children are removed from their homes by officials who fear for their safety—only to be returned within days. It “felt like being kidnapped,” one said.
By
Eli Hager
News
July 22, 2015
The Sandra Bland Breakthrough
It’s not just black men who matter.
By
Maura Ewing
The Frame
May 3, 2016
What It’s Like to Perform Shakespeare in Prison
An encounter with the Bard transforms a troupe of inmate actors.
By
Alysia Santo
Life Inside
October 13, 2016
How My Time as a Private Prison Guard Changed the Way I See Inmates
“No one wants to be accused of being ‘inmate-friendly.’”
By
M. Leann Skeen
Life Inside
December 1, 2016
‘Please Find My Grandson’
What I saw tracking down the mentally ill in jail.
By
Margaret Altman
Commentary
January 26, 2017
Inside the Clemency Lottery
The difference between the freed and the left-behind was often luck.
Sean Nuttall
Life Inside
June 2, 2016
The Bogus Murder Confession That Changed How I Investigate Family Violence
A prosecutor on the case he’ll never forget.
By
Staley Heatly
News
March 1, 2017
A Better Way to Treat Addiction in Jail
Medications are effective, but jails are still slow to provide them.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
December 10, 2020
Notes From a Wild Election Week Behind Bars
“From time to time you hear someone shout something like, ‘Trump cannot be stopped!’ or, ‘Let’s get this White Nazi out of power!’ There is no gray area.”
By
Christopher Blackwell
News
February 20, 2015
Oscar on Trial
How Academy Award-nominated films have handled, and mishandled, criminal justice.
By
Maurice Chammah
News
July 10, 2018
License to Clip
A movement to let the formerly incarcerated cut hair and drive taxis is gaining ground.
By
Ashley Nerbovig
Commentary
August 14, 2018
Medium-Security Monastery: McCarrick House Arrest Skirts Civil Justice System
Accused priests face church-imposed “prayer and penance,” but not courts.
Susan E. Gallagher
Commentary
October 17, 2017
‘Black Identity Extremists’ and the Dark Side of the FBI
Leaked documents remind us of the agency’s history of dirty tricks.
David Dennis
Commentary
November 3, 2017
What About the ‘Lost Children’ (and Mothers) of America?
It’s time for their voices to be heard.
By
Rheann Kelly
,
Christina Kovats
, and
Natalie Medley
Closing Argument
April 15
How the Juvenile System Forces Minors Into Unsafe Institutions
Even in states with a drive for reform, many children and teens face long confinement and dirty, dangerous conditions.
By
Jamiles Lartey
News
May 22, 2023
We Spent Two Years Investigating Abuse by Prison Guards in New York. Here Are Five Takeaways.
The state fails to fire most corrections officers it accuses of violence against prisoners or covering up abuse.
By
Alysia Santo
and
Joseph Neff
Testify
October 26, 2022
Five Things to Know About Cleveland Courts’ Revolving Door
In most cases, people who repeatedly appear before the courts are not committing violent crimes.
By
Wesley Lowery
and
Ilica Mahajan
Closing Argument
May 20
In 2022, Exonerations Hit a Record High in the U.S.
Globally, potential innocence has long outweighed potential guilt. That philosophy of justice may not be one that the majority of Americans endorse.
By
Jamiles Lartey
Analysis
May 31, 2022
Five Things to Know About One of the Deadliest Federal Prisons
Key takeaways from our investigation into deaths and abuse at a U.S. penitentiary.
By
Christie Thompson
Commentary
December 17, 2019
How to Fix Our Prisons? Let The Public Inside.
We need a broad national effort to recruit and place volunteers to educate and counsel incarcerated people.
By
Neil Barsky
News
December 8, 2014
What it’s Like to be Black In the NYPD Right Now
“Morale is already dead.”
By
Simone Weichselbaum
and
Christie Thompson
News
February 24, 2015
The Prison Rape Videos: Three Out of Four Stars
The first reviews are in, mostly amazed that New York actually made these films.
By
Eli Hager
News
September 13, 2016
When an Old Law Makes It Hard to Fix a Troubled Jail
A federal statute from the Carter era favors negotiation, but that can take a long time.
By
Alysia Santo
News
July 29, 2019
Shock Treatment in Court
Stun belts are intended to keep control in the courtroom, but some judges use them to inflict punishment.
By
Jack Brook
Life Inside
October 3, 2019
I Killed My Wife. Now I Want to Help Prevent Domestic Violence.
“If I could save one man from doing what I did, then I will have found a calling for my final years.”
By
Daniel Adams
News
April 30, 2021
Supreme Court Conservatives Just Made It Easier to Sentence Kids to Life in Prison
The new ruling could worsen existing racial disparities in states that condemn teens to die in prison.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Life Inside
July 29, 2021
A Filthy New Orleans Jail Made My Son Sick. The ‘Cruel and Unusual’ Medical Treatment at Angola Prison Killed Him.
This spring, a judge ruled that the healthcare at the Louisiana State Penitentiary violated prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights. Lois Ratcliff tells the horrifying story of her son Farrell’s decline and death.
By
Lois Ratcliff
as told by
Jamiles Lartey
Inside Out
February 24, 2022
‘A Humiliating Experience’: Prisoners Allege Abuse at Discipline-focused ‘Shock’ Camps
New York is closing one of its last ‘shock’ camps, a move some experts and former prisoners say is a long time coming.
By
Keri Blakinger
News
March 18, 2015
Willingham Prosecutor Accused of Misconduct
State bar files charges more than 10 years after execution.
By
Maurice Possley
Justice Lab
April 2, 2015
Meet Our Prisoners
A study lingers on the lives of those we incarcerate.
By
Dana Goldstein
Case in Point
February 28, 2019
The Father, the Son and the Holy Buck
A capital case in Alabama raises the question: are you entitled to a conflict-free lawyer?
By
Andrew Cohen
Feature
March 9, 2017
Afraid of Jail? Buy an Upgrade
How California’s pay-to-stay jails create a two-tiered justice system.
By
Alysia Santo
,
Victoria Kim
and
Anna Flagg
Feature
May 17, 2021
Foster Care Agencies Take Millions of Dollars Owed to Kids. Most Children Have No Idea.
The majority of states obtain money intended for foster children with disabilities or a deceased parent without telling them, The Marshall Project and NPR found.
By
Eli Hager
with
Joseph Shapiro
, NPR
Feature
October 3, 2018
Banished
After passing a series of restrictive housing laws, Miami-Dade County faces an odd predicament: bands of nomadic sex offenders and a cat-and-mouse game to move them.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
and
Emily Kassie
News
April 10, 2017
Here are the 7 men Arkansas plans to execute this month
The cases of the condemned capture much of the debate for and against the death penalty.
By
Maurice Chammah
Feature
September 1, 2022
They Lost Their Pregnancies. Then Prosecutors Sent Them to Prison.
Dozens of women who used drugs while pregnant have faced criminal charges. Experts expect even more cases now that Roe has been overturned.
By
Cary Aspinwall
,
Brianna Bailey
, and
Amy Yurkanin
Feature
November 15
A Warden Tried to Fix an Abusive Prison. He Faced Death Threats.
He was tasked with ending abuse at a federal penitentiary, but he says his own officers and the Bureau of Prisons stood in the way.
By
Christie Thompson
,
Beth Schwartzapfel
, The Marshall Project and
Joseph Shapiro
, NPR
Violation
May 3, 2023
‘No Safe Place’: On Memory, Trauma and Truth
Part Seven of the “Violation” podcast reveals new information about Jake Wideman’s past and explains what happens next in his legal case.
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
Analysis
January 19, 2017
Trump Budget Draft Targets Cops, Crime Victims
Also civil rights enforcement and legal aid for the poor.
By The Marshall Project
Looking Back
August 19, 2019
In Sickness, In Health—and In Prison
A Nebraska couple fighting to marry behind bars wouldn’t be the first: Three decades ago, two prisoners took their bid to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
By
Mia Armstrong
Coronavirus
May 14, 2020
What Women Dying In Prison From COVID-19 Tell Us About Female Incarceration
Fatal victims illuminate women’s unique problems in prison, and the all-too-common ways they get there in the first place.
By
Cary Aspinwall
,
Keri Blakinger
and
Joseph Neff
Feature
November 11, 2021
Two Strikes and You’re in Prison Forever
Why Florida leads the nation in people serving life without chance of parole.
By
Cary Aspinwall
,
Weihua Li
and
Dan Sullivan
News
October 27, 2020
What 2,392 Incarcerated People Think About #DefundThePolice
Americans are grappling with intensifying calls to remake the criminal justice system. We asked people behind bars to weigh in.
By
Nicole Lewis
,
Anna Flagg
and
Aviva Shen
News
December 18, 2020
Colorado Tries New Way To Punish Rogue Cops
Individual officers can’t claim ‘qualified immunity’ in excessive force cases, but may not end up paying damages out of their own pockets.
By
Cary Aspinwall
and
Simone Weichselbaum
News
July 29, 2020
Will The Reckoning Over Racist Names Include These Prisons?
Many prisons, especially in the South, are named after racist officials and former plantations.
By
Keri Blakinger
News
September 24, 2020
How Losing RBG Could Shape Criminal Justice For Years to Come
Juvenile lifers, victims of police misconduct and immigrants convicted of minor crimes are among those with a lot at stake before the changing court.
By
Eli Hager
AND
Beth Schwartzapfel
Feature
February 7, 2020
They Went to Jail. Then They Say They Were Strapped to a Chair for Days.
Allegations in a Missouri lawsuit shed light on how some jail officials use restraint chairs, which have been linked to dozens of deaths.
By
Maurice Chammah
Looking Back
February 24, 2016
Who Told the Truth?
A hearing in San Antonio will revive the ghosts of the satanic abuse trials and questions about the testimony of child victims.
By
Maurice Chammah
Life Inside
November 29, 2018
The Big Chill
I had never been locked up before. No one told me that prison would be so cold.
By
Tracy Meadows
Case in Point
July 17, 2017
Who Pays for Jail Rape?
Under “qualified immunity,” often no one.
By
Andrew Cohen
Feature
August 7, 2017
Undiscovered
Defendants say evidence laws force them to take pleas while “blindfolded.”
By
Beth Schwartzapfel
News
November 4, 2022
Why So Many Jails Are in a ‘State of Complete Meltdown’
Overcrowding, violence and abuse proliferate at jails across the country, as staffing problems make long-simmering problems worse.
By
Keri Blakinger
News
November 28, 2022
A Rikers Officer Had Sex With a Detainee. It Took 7 Years to Fire Him.
The officer also asked the woman to cover up that another Rikers guard sexually assaulted her.
By
Reuven Blau
and
Keri Blakinger
Death Sentences
June 27
This Doctor Helped Send Ramiro Gonzales to Death Row. Now He’s Changed His Mind.
Texas plans to execute Gonzales this week even though the expert witness says he isn’t a ‘threat to society.’
By
Maurice Chammah
and
Keri Blakinger
Feature
July 29, 2020
Your Local Jail May Be A House of Horrors
But you probably wouldn’t know it, because sheriffs rule them with little accountability. After one man’s death in a notorious lockup, residents of a Missouri town fought back.
By
Maurice Chammah
Feature
June 17, 2015
Preying on Prisoners
In Texas, staffers rarely go to jail for sexually abusing inmates.
By
Alysia Santo
Feature
July 8, 2020
She Said Her Husband Hit Her. She Lost Custody of Their Kids
How reporting domestic violence works against women in family court.
By
Kathryn Joyce
Feature
August 1, 2019
The King of Dreams
A Texas con artist made millions promising prisoners' families the thing they wanted most: To bring their children home.
By
Christie Thompson
Feature
July 21, 2020
They Agreed to Meet Their Mother’s Killer. Then Tragedy Struck Again.
A Florida family opted for restorative justice over the death penalty for the man who murdered their mom. What happened next made them question the very meaning of justice.
By
Eli Hager
Feature
August 20, 2020
Two Families, Two Fates: When the Misdiagnosis Is Child Abuse
The power of child-abuse pediatric specialists and parents’ unequal journey toward justice
By
Stephanie Clifford