Because the newly put in Trump administration quickly launched an array of prison justice and immigration coverage modifications in early 2025, The Marshall Venture devoted our reporting workforce to explaining the affect on households and communities. These matters helped outline our yr and gave us a wealthy vein of reporting.
The brand new administration
One of many first govt orders President Donald Trump issued in workplace allowed the Justice Division to contract with personal jail operators. Shannon Heffernan’s reporting famous {that a} small portion of the jail inhabitants is perhaps moved to non-public amenities, however that immigration detention contracts — which have been already allowed — can be extra profitable.
With Trump’s focus shifting away from Justice Division investigations of troubled police departments, a workforce of reporters — Daphne Duret, Daja E. Henry, Christie Thompson, Lakeidra Chavis, Geoff Hing and Wilbert L. Cooper — examined how that may have an effect on cities with consent decrees.
Cops in Louisville, Ky., in 2020, throughout a protest for Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her house by police.
Duret and Jamiles Lartey famous that Trump had an advanced relationship with cops as a result of his Jan. 6 pardons and deep cuts in federal funding for neighborhood policing. Joseph Neff defined why most of the president’s pardons violated requirements meant to make sure equity and shield the general public. And Heffernan, Beth Schwartzapfel, Jill Castellano and Hing defined how the Trump administration was utilizing the prison justice system to massively broaden immigration detention.
Immigration underneath stress
Our protection of the intersection of prison justice and immigration insurance policies continued to develop all year long because the Trump administration ramped up deportation efforts. Thompson and Univision Noticias’ Patricia Clarembaux reported on the spike in solitary confinement for individuals detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, describing the expertise of a girl who was locked in a windowless isolation cell with a damaged rest room in Louisiana for nearly two months.
In one other evaluation, Thompson and Anna Flagg discovered that ICE was deporting hundreds of people that had no prison convictions or solely minor offenses on their information. Folks with no prison convictions made up two-thirds of the greater than 120,000 individuals deported between January and Could, based on our knowledge overview.
Shoshana Walter, Castellano and Duret instructed the story of a person who was arrested and deported from Florida, regardless of a courtroom order forbidding a state immigration regulation from being enforced. “They by no means gave me the chance to defend myself,” the person instructed The Marshall Venture.
To grasp the pressures on households whose family members have been detained by ICE, Heffernan and Futuro Investigates’ Julieta Martinelli traveled to El Refugio hospitality home in Lumpkin, Georgia, to spend a weekend with volunteers and visiting households on the lookout for meals and respite. The report, printed in English and Spanish, was a collaboration with Latino USA and Futuro Investigates.
Our immigration protection additionally included a limited-run publication, Immigration Nation — developed by a workforce that included Rachel Kincaid, Annaliese Griffin, Rebecca McCray and Manuel Torres — that put our reporting immediately within the inboxes of readers. McCray wrote about ICE checkpoints arrange removed from the border because the immigration roundup unfold throughout the nation. Hing defined how encounters with police might result in an arrest, even in sanctuary cities.
Dying behind bars
Deaths in custody have been one other main reporting theme for us in 2025. Ilica Mahajan, Anna Flagg and Aaron Sankin combed a federal knowledge set with 5 years of deaths in U.S. prisons and jails and recognized practically 700 individuals who had died in custody, however weren’t on the checklist. That led us to succeed in out to households who had misplaced family members. They talked about not understanding even probably the most fundamental particulars of what occurred to their incarcerated relations.
A type of moms was Janice Wilkins, whose son Denorris Howell was strangled to loss of life within the Mississippi State Penitentiary in 2020. He was one in every of 42 individuals who died by murder in Mississippi prisons over the previous decade, based on reporting by The Marshall Venture-Jackson’s Daja E. Henry, Mississippi At present, the Clarion Ledger, Hattiesburg American and The Mississippi Hyperlink. We discovered solely six convictions in these circumstances.
Janice Wilkins holds {a photograph} of her late son, Denorris Howell, at her house in Holly Springs, Miss., in August 2025.
We additionally talked to households about what belongings have been returned to them from jail officers after a liked one died behind bars. They instructed Aala Abdullahi and Heffernan about ready to get a brother’s ashes, getting a plastic bag with a son’s hat from his favourite band, or hoping to get a treasured Bible that by no means appeared.
In New York state, Neff investigated the loss of life of Jason “Poppy” Phillips, who choked to loss of life in Greene Correctional Facility after an epiglottis an infection went untreated. He discovered that greater than 30 individuals who have been experiencing a well being disaster in New York prisons died prior to now decade of preventable or treatable situations.
Our Ohio reporting workforce — Doug Livingston, Brittany Hailer and Mark Puente — wrote concerning the loss of life of Tasha Grant, a double amputee, who died whereas being restrained by medical personnel after being transferred from jail due to chest pains.
Abuses hidden in jail infirmaries
An investigation by reporters Alysia Santo and Neff discovered 46 allegations that corrections officers had assaulted prisoners within the medical wings of New York prisons since 2010. The reporters based mostly their findings on courtroom settlements, disciplinary information and pending lawsuits. Three prisoners died, whereas many others have been left with extreme accidents akin to collapsed lungs and damaged bones.
The reporters additionally appeared on the function of nurses following violence in jail infirmaries. Santo and Neff recognized 61 allegations from 2010 by way of 2024 of medical employees concealing proof of guards’ abuse, often by forgoing examinations or not documenting accidents.
Producing native journalism
We launched our third native newsroom in January — this one in St. Louis. Marlon Walker, managing editor of native, led the growth, which incorporates reporters Jesse Bogan, Katie Moore and Ivy Scott. As with all of our native groups, they work intently with journalists of their neighborhood to assist shut the reporting hole left by shrinking newsrooms.
This yr, our groups in Cleveland, Jackson, Mississippi, and St. Louis co-reported on the moldy, filthy, vermin-infested situations of jails, and detailed the unhealthy lack of daylight and contemporary air in jail compounds in all three cities.
In St. Louis, we collaborated with St. Louis Public Radio to honor homicide victims whose deaths stay unsolved, working with their households and a neighborhood artist to explain their lives and create portraits of them. To go together with the artwork challenge, Scott put collectively guides to assist households cope with the prison justice system and their grief, and we held neighborhood occasions to share the portraits and spark dialog.
Working with The Midwest Newsroom, Moore instructed the story of a girl with HIV who spent six years in solitary and efficiently sued to get the state of Missouri to alter its coverage. Bogan outlined the various failings of the St. Louis Justice Middle.
In Ohio, Hailer investigated unrest at a youth residential remedy heart regardless of new operators who got here in with new expectations for change. With Information 5, Puente and Livingston documented complaints of extreme drive towards the Downtown Security Patrol in Cleveland and located that Black drivers acquired 75% of the tickets these officers issued.
In Jackson, reporter Caleb Bedillion discovered that Mississippi judges have continued to approve no-knock warrants, regardless of the 2015 loss of life of a Monroe County man who was shot to loss of life after SWAT workforce members pressured their approach into his home. In the meantime, Henry chronicled the federal takeover of the Hinds County jail.
Demise Row reporting
We additionally continued our longtime reporting on the loss of life penalty, with a narrative by Maurice Chammah on using the flawed “psychopath take a look at” to influence jurors that Texas ought to execute Robert Roberson — a person many argue is harmless. Texas’ highest prison courtroom blocked his execution in October and despatched the case again to the trial courtroom.
Freelancer Leonora LaPeter Anton revealed the pipeline from a violent Florida reform college to loss of life row for former college students.
Punishing expectant moms
Cary Aspinwall added to her reporting on the criminalization of being pregnant with a narrative on Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma and different states charging girls who had miscarriages or stillbirths with against the law.
Poppy seeds, utilized in salads and different meals, can yield optimistic outcomes for opiates in urine exams.
Shoshana Walter continued her reporting on the prevalence of false optimistic drug exams throughout childbirth with tales on medical doctors who’re pushing to cast off the flawed exams and states contemplating laws to guard sufferers. She additionally collaborated with CBS Sunday Morning on a joint investigation that includes her reporting on the false optimistic exams in a tv broadcast.
Being transgender in jail
Schwartzapfel continued her insightful examination of the experiences of transgender individuals in jail, trying on the constitutional questions raised by Trump’s ban on gender-affirming care and the following confusion in prisons over his order. She additionally instructed the story of Dee Farmer, who was the primary transgender prisoner to take her case to the Supreme Courtroom and the primary to get the courtroom to handle sexual assault in jail.
Taking readers inside prisons
Our Life Inside essays supply individuals a glimpse of what life is like throughout and after jail for incarcerated individuals and their households. For the Fourth of July this yr, we requested incarcerated individuals an up to date model of Frederick Douglass’ query from 1852: “What, to the at present or previously incarcerated American, is your Fourth of July?” We printed solutions from 20 individuals. Jazzy Mason mentioned, “I hear the phrase ‘independence’ and consider how many people are nonetheless preventing for the proper to easily be.”
Kwaneta Harris, a jail journalist incarcerated in Texas, additionally wrote for us this yr about sexual intrusion, harassment, coercion and violence as each day realities in girls’s prisons. Deborah Zalesne, a regulation professor at CUNY College of Legislation, collaborated on the piece.
Reaching incarcerated readers
The Marshall Venture is devoted to getting our journalism into prisons and jails for our incarcerated readers. Martin Garcia manages Information Inside, our print publication out there in 2,167 prisons and jails in 48 states; Washington, D.C.; Vancouver, Canada; Tijuana, Mexico; and Panama Metropolis, Panama.
It contains tales from our web site in addition to particular options like a crossword puzzle and Reader to Reader recommendation. In a current subject, incarcerated readers shared how they handle their funds inside and stretch the few {dollars} they make. A reader incarcerated in Illinois had this recommendation, “I construct a monetary template with a core surrounding my important wants, then broaden from there. This might differ for all, relying on what is important to you, for me, it’s espresso and protein.” Inside Story, our video sequence produced by Lawrence Bartley and Donald Washington Jr., is out there in 1,728 prisons and jails in 44 states and Washington, D.C.
In Cleveland, Outreach Supervisor Louis Fields is getting our work into native prisons and jails. In June, he was a part of a strong gathering organized by Ohio State’s Dr. Terrence Hinton at Pickaway Correctional Establishment that introduced the parole board, regulation enforcement, and Ohio Division of Rehabilitation and Correction leaders into dialog with the lads inside.
Sharing our knowledge with different newsrooms
By way of Examine This!, led by Michelle Billman, our reporters and editors have created and distributed eight reporting toolkits prior to now 18 months that permit different journalists to report on a subject we’ve investigated in their very own communities. The toolkits present suggestions for masking deaths behind bars, warmth in prisons, jail staffing ranges and extra. These toolkits have been utilized by reporters from different newsrooms to supply 45 printed information tales. Examine This! has additionally held 4 webinars with nearly 650 individuals registered, and has finished consultations with journalists to assist troubleshoot points they’re having with tales or to stroll them by way of our knowledge.
Newsletters and viewers
Our Closing Argument publication, led by Lartey, is targeted on one important prison justice subject every week to deepen readers’ understanding. Matters this yr included who ought to pay victims of police misconduct, the motion in some states to institute money bail necessities and why closing prisons is so difficult.
Opening Assertion, our each day publication edited by Andrew Cohen, offers readers a complete view of what’s taking place within the prison justice universe.
Publication Strategist Kincaid manages our nationwide newsletters and helped develop our two native newsletters in Cleveland and Jackson, and Publication Editor Griffin edits and oversees our publication manufacturing. Collectively, they develop new newsletters to reply to ongoing information tales, just like the mass deportation disaster, in addition to to viewers pursuits. You may join any of The Marshall Venture’s publication choices on our subscription web page.
Throughout our precedence social platforms of YouTube, Instagram, Reddit and TikTok, our posts have been seen greater than 22 million instances and spurred tens of hundreds of feedback, shares and saves. These award-winning movies, carousels and extra have been produced by former Viewers Engagement Producers Chris Vazquez and Kristin Bausch in addition to Viewers Engagement Strategist Ashley Dye.
Social video standouts embody Vazquez with reporter Maurice Chammah discussing modifications in execution strategies and whether or not firing squads are extra humane. On Instagram, Bausch’s carousel with Ilica Mahajan’s reporting helped individuals perceive how police monitor protesters, and Dye’s co-posted carousel with The Midwest Newsroom reveals how a girl with HIV modified Missouri’s solitary confinement coverage.
Amongst a number of common Reddit AMAs produced by Dye, reporters Cary Aspinwall, Daphne Duret, Jamiles Lartey and Christie Thompson fielded questions on immigration enforcement underneath Trump. Plus, native reporter Daja E. Henry and Mississippi At present reporter Mina Corpuz shared what they learn about Mississippi jail deaths after a yr of investigating.
