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 "women in prison" ...
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Women in Prison
The series examined reasons leading to Oklahoma's No. 1 U.S. ranking for its rate of incarcerating women. The Tulsa World found that while the state ranked in the mid-range for arrests of women, it jumps significantly when it comes to sentencing.
Tags: prisons; female prisoners; women in prison
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Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Jails series
The series examined individuals who have died suspiciously while in the custody of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who proclaims himself to be "America's Toughest Sheriff." Specifically, the stories examined the death of an inmate, Juan Mendoza Farias, who entered the county jail in good health and arrived at the county morgue two days later--covered with bruises and lacerations. The series also covered ongoing federal class-action lawsuit brought by the ACLU against Arpaio. During the process of that lawsuit, Arpaio lost his federal jail accreditation, which is require by Arizona law. Dickerson has been covering the lawsuit since 2007 and broke the story that the county's top lawman was himself breaking a state law by losing the accreditation of his jails. The series also investigated the care of pregnant inmates and their babies in the jail, finding that many women are malnourished and miscarry as a result of the jail conditions and food.
Tags: police misconduct; sheriff's office; pregnant inmates; prisoner abuse; Arizona
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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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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;
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Sexual abuse behind bars
The Detroit News exposed years of sexual abuse of female inmates by male prison guards in Michigan. Despite a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in 1999, abuse rates increased and offenders went unpunished. The reporters discovered inmate suicides and guards who killed themselves rather than face accusations of abuse. The story also showed that a former governor had blocked outside investigations of sexual abuse in prisons. After publication, legislators convened hearings and male guards were phased out of women's prisons.
Tags: FOI; prison; sexual abuse; rape; Michigan Department of Corrections; prison guards; jail; penitentiary; suicide
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"Cancer Cell"; "Hospital of Horrors"
This investigation focuses on the health care -- or lack thereof -- provided for female prisoners at the Carswell Federal Medical Center near Fort Worth, TX, the only prison hospital in the country for mentally and chronically ill or dying women who have been convicted of a federal crime. These stories feature two women in their 40s whose cases were the most egregious. They cover the womens' lives and medical histories in and out of prison, the trail of contradictory documents and misleading statements released by the prison, and the families' struggles to save the womens' lives and find out the truth about the medical care system at Carswell.
Tags: prison; jail; federal government; women prisoners; patients; prisoner abuse; hospitals; doctors; medical malpractice; medical ethics
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Death in the Family
This investigation of a small cult called 'The Family' reveals more than what the reported facts told in 2001. The cult was charged with child endangerment and sent to prison. By going through the public records and in-depth interviews with the 'leader' and its members, it told how it was possible to 'brainwash' 4 women to live with him and have 13 children.
Tags: cult; child abuse; brainwashing; malnutrition; child endangerment
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Too Many Wrongful Convictions
Investigators in this series of stories found that Massachusetts has a bad record of wrongful criminal convictions. 22 wrongful convicted people have been released in the past 22 years: the second highest number in the country. Many more innocent men and women may remain behind bars. The Boston Police Force also rightly has the reputation of being too quick to close cases and pronounce people as guilty. In some instances the innocent were exonerated, but often only after spending time in prison. After the investigation brought attention to the problem, the county appointed a task force to help prevent too many wrongful convictions in the future. One wrongful conviction was even overturned after the WFXT investigative team found evidence to prove innocence: Sammy Toro spent 23 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Also following the investigation, Massachusetts passed a bill that would compensate those who were wrongly imprisoned.
Tags: prison; crime; wrongful conviction; detective; innocent
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15 days of anguish: The inside story of Arizona's prison standoff
This narrative recounts the nation's longest prison hostage standoff, a 15-day crisis at an Arizona prison. The story was reconstructed from Republic interviews and from 50 hours of taped negotiations between inmates and negotiators, official debriefings of corrections officers, investigative reports, inmate files, command logs and other public records. The Republic obtained the records only after much wrangling with the Department of Corrections and the Governor's office. After the Republic published stories on the standoff based on off-the-record sources, a county prosecutor's office rejected the Governor's office arguments to withhold the information and released the records. The story revealed how gross security flaws, mismanagement, and poor judgment led to the incident in which two women were raped.
Tags: prison standoff; rape; prisoners; public records
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Stripped of Dignity
A reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, investigates an incident where two women were strip searched at the San Francisco County jail. The women were then held naked in a cold cell for 12 hours. The reporter found out that the sheriff's department was conducting such unwarranted strip searches for years.
Tags: prisoner rights; illegal strip searches; San Francisco Sheriff's Department; Deborah Flick; Mary Bull; San Francisco County jail; safety cell policies