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 "prison inmates" ...
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Maryland Corrections Reforms Yield Mixed Results
"This story covers problems with violence in the Maryland corrections system, which saw four inmates and two officers killed in 2006 and three inmates killed in 2007. An analysis of state records showed that despite a pledge by Gov. Martin O'Malley to reform the system and the closing of a notorious prison, violence was still rampant in many prisons. Overall, serious attacks on officers declined in 2007, but the rate of inmate-on-inmate violence was similar to that of 2006, considered one of the worst in Maryland history."
Tags: prisons; violence; corrections system; inmate violence; prison reform
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The Wait of Conviction
The poor people in Richmond County that were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, and almost half were not able to appeal their cases. Of those who were able to appeal, on in five would win some sort of relief, while three men died in prison without any review of their convictions.
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Man Down
This investigation tells the story of Thomas Jones, and inmate at the D.C. Jail. One day he collapsed while playing basketball and, later that evening, died of a heart attack. This investigation sheds light on how officers at the jail failed to save his life.
Tags: jail; prison guards; inmates; medical response; CPR
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The Death of Timothy Souders
CBS investigated the death of mentally-ill Timothy Souders at the Southern Michigan Correctional Center. During their investigation they discovered that "inmates with psychological problems are more likely to get in trouble with corrections officers, and thus more likely to be sentenced to solitary confinement and to stay in prison longer."
Tags: prison; mentally ill; solitary confinement; Timothy Souders; state institutions; mental illness
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Prisoners Best Friend
Reporters Todd Bensman and Robert Riggs from CBS-11 News, Dallas, investigated tips that State Representative Terri Hodge solicited campaign contributions from inmates families in return for intervening in their loved ones' cases. Not all those campaign contributions were reported. Bensman and Riggs found over 60 instances where Rep. Hodge obtained confidential prison files under a legislative privilege designed to assist in law-making. "As a legislator, Hodge served on the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and frequently sat in on hearings before the COrrections COmmittee, which oversees the Texas Prison system. In her role, Hodge had power over budgets and prison jobs."
Tags: Terri Hodge; campaign contributions; parole board; disciplinary refractions; influence; victims rights groups; Texas Public Information Act; Texas Inmate Families Association; TIFA; legislative privilege; campaign finance reports; Texas Criminal Jurisprudence Committee; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; TDCJ; Texas Corrections Committee; Justice for All; Texas Ethics Commission
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Motherhood behind bars
The majority of women inmates in the Wisconsin prison system are mothers of young children. The separation of mother and child may lead to the children growing up to become inmates themselves because they need guidance and nuture while their mothers are in prison. Throughout child birth, pregnant inmates have their legs shackled to restrain them, which is not only done in Wisconsin, but 20 other states.
Tags: pregnancy; birth; jail; mom; samantha luther; Candida Andino
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Dumping Ground
Ex-convicts and former prisoners are sent to live in Pierce County into the work-release programs to help them ease back into society. Pierce County has three of these programs- RAP, Progress, and Lincoln Park houses- to help rehabilitate prisoners. But the programs are adding to the already large number of ex-cons living in Pierce County, and the number is increasing.
Tags: jail; inmate; correctional facility; Gerry Horne; pre-release; correction
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Police Torture in Chicago
A police torture ring existed in Chicago for many years after a 16-year period of ongoing coverage in the Chicago Reader. It turns out that Cook County state's authority, along with mayor Richard M. Daley, allowed the ring to continue for decades.
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Head Games
Alan Pendergast, staffwriter for Denver's Westword reports that in 2004, 20% of Colorado's jail population was diagnosed with severe mental illness, and "the true number may be much higher, since some inmates' illnesses are never properly diagnosed." The story compares cost of psychiatric lock-up versus community mental health care. Pendergast advises other journalists doing similar stories should "insist that someone in the accontable chain of command review and comment on the records, even if the actual treatment providers are refusing to be interviewed."
Tags: prison mental illness; correctional systems; lockdown; supermax prison; ADHD; Department of Corrections; forensic psychiatry; head cases; administrative segregation; HIPPA; San Carlos Correctional Facility; Offenders WIth Serious Mental Illness; OSMI; National Institute on Drug Abuse; Mental Health Occupations Grievance Board
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Taking the Cuffs off at Carswell
Fort Worth Weekly reporter Betty Brink has been covering medical and sexual abuse of female inmates at Carswell Federal Medical Center, in Texas, since 1999. As a result of her coverage, and his own investigation, a retired judge, Ross Sears is asking for a Congressional investihgation into the deadly conditions at "the only prison hospital in the country for mentally or chronicallly ill or dying women who have been convicted of a federal crime."
Tags: medical negligence; sexual abuse; Carswell Federal Mediacal Center; medical records; Bureau of Prisons; FOI requests; U.S. Office of Special Counsel; Dr. Roger Guthrie; Ross Sears; retaliation; compassionate release; John Peter Smith Hospital; Tarrant County Medical Examiner; autopsies; prison deaths; women inmates; femaile prisoners; Baylor Regional Transplant Institute; Huguley Memorial Medical Center; brain damage; whistleblower complaints; medical malpractice; sentinel event; rape;