The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "confinement conditions" ...
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Arrested Development
For thousands of youths accused of crimes, punishment preceeds any conviction. The may be held for months or even years in county jails for -- and sometimes with -- adult suspects. Scripps Howard News Service reports on the 7,500 junveiles in adult jails at any time, their conditions of confinement and how a loophole in federal law allows jails in 29 states to house juveniles with adults.
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Prisons' Legal Strain
Eight class-action lawsuits won by inmates rights lawyers have led to the state of California mandating "fixes for past failures that have already cost taxpayers more than $1 billion and will cost nearly $8 billion over five years." Included in that bill are improvements in the ways prisoners are treated, like health care and "general confinement conditions." An outbreak of Valley Fever at one prison is included in the coverage of these issues. One of the ways the state seeks to balance the prison budget is a plan to release 22,000 "low-risk offenders" early.
Tags: Prisons; health care; medical conditions; confinement conditions; prison health care; Valley Fever
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Death in Prison: Punishing the Mentally Ill and Imprisoned and Sick: Punishing the Mentally Ill
An investigation of New York state prisons by the Poughkeepsie Journal revealed that "many inmates had lenghty histories of mental illness." The newspaper found that 38.5 percent of prison suicides occured in "The Box," even though only 4.4 percent of prisoners were housed there. "Another 15 percent occured in another form of disciplinary confinement, where just 3.6 percent of inmates were housed."
Tags: prisons; New York states; suicide; mental illness; death; treatment; conditions
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Slammed
The New Times examines the conditions at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. The series reveals "evidence of physical, sexual and verbal abuse of juvenile detainees by staff, inadequate mental health services and instances where kids were kept in detention far longer than their recommended time of stay." One of the stories focused on how the department was providing substandard education. Another article shed light on the vicious practice of using solitary confinement as punishment for days or weeks, without allowing the detainees to go to classes or to the bathroom. The conditions deteriorated after a federal court order requiring the department to be monitored expired in 1998, the Times reports. Juveniles are released when they turn 18 without any adequate preparation or support.
Tags: FOIA; Arizona's public records law; juvenile justice; children; psychiatry; mental health; incarceration; drugs; crime
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Kids In Confinement
In this two-part series and numerous follow-up stories, a hidden-camera investigation explores the underside of "time-out rooms" - a questionable disciplinary practice common in Chicago public schools and spreading nationwide. Reporters exposed the unsavory conditions and often inhumane treatment used to discipline school children, many of whom emerged with permanent physical or psychological damage.
Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT education; abuse; FOI; Board of Education; Equip for Equality