I spent the last year reporting on the most interesting effort in a generation to transform American prisons — by giving prisoners more say over their environments.

The story begins with a deadly riot in a prison named for Robert E. Lee. 🧵

themarshallproject.org/2024/09/26/sou… In 2015, I visited German prisons with a bunch of American corrections officials. The details were wild but the lesson was simple:

If you treat people behind bars with dignity, they don’t need decades inside to become better neighbors.

themarshallproject.org/2015/09/25/pri…

While reporting this story, I watched a Black man face the death penalty.

His jury had *zero* Black members. One Latinx member. Nearly all-White.

How? I watched ~20 hours of jury selection that led to this outcome. Here’s a thread.

themarshallproject.org/2023/03/02/dea… Some prosecutors strike Black people from the jury pool and claim there’s a reason beyond race.

Sometimes, it’s coded: You're kicked off the jury, for example, because you agreed with the OJ Simpson verdict.

But there's more to it.

themarshallproject.org/2015/11/02/can…

I spent 3 years shadowing an investigator, as she sought to save the life of a death row prisoner — by telling the story of that life, from a Great Migration childhood to a Rikers adolescence.

A story of trauma, mercy, and the mysteries of violence:
themarshallproject.org/2023/03/02/dea… The backstory:

While reporting out my book on the death penalty, I learned about this secretive guild of "mitigation specialists."

They played a major role in the punishment’s decline, by leading jurors and prosecutors from punitiveness to mercy.
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554923/l…

I thought I'd heard every kind of alleged-wrongful-conviction story. But this one — featuring a famed Texas Ranger, lies, and hypnosis — shook me so much I spent a year investigating the detective's career.

Out today at @MarshallProj + @dallasnews: themarshallproject.org/2022/01/18/ana… @MarshallProj @dallasnews You may have heard of Texas Ranger James Holland. He’s been on @60Minutes, @48hours, and other true crime fare, mainly for his talent in interrogations. @latimes called him a “serial killer whisperer of sorts."

But there’s way more to his career.
latimes.com/world-nation/s…

Next week, the Trump admin will execute 2 prisoners — and 3 more before Biden takes office.

It's an unprecedented binge at the tail end of a presidency. themarshallproject.org/next-to-die/fe

But I also think in a way this shows just how much the death penalty has declined in relevance. Even @realDonaldTrump himself has scarcely mentioned executions on the stump, which you’d think he would, given that he’s long loved the death penalty, and presumably his base does too. It would be a distraction from COVID and the election results.

So why the silence?

🚨🚨🚨A big criminal justice election thread:

Biden and Trump have very different visions for policing and prisons, but many local races for sheriff and DA will be litmus tests for the country’s views post-George Floyd.

Some races I’m watching tonight for @MarshallProj: In the 9th circuit of South Carolina, the Dem running for district attorney says he wants to “shut off the mass incarceration mindset.” Trump won a county in this district by 17 points in 2016, but #BlackLivesMatter is popular next door. A @taniel preview: theappeal.org/politicalrepor…

🚨🚨🚨NEW STORY ALERT: For 7 months, I’ve been investigating a tiny jail in Missouri.

The stories sound like a horror movie: ritualized fight nights, a man shouting as he died in a restraint chair, infected spider bites.

Up today at @MarshallProj: themarshallproject.org/2020/07/29/you… Nothing in this story is unique to this one jail — it's just a matter of volume. Here's our look at another tiny Missouri jail accused of strapping people to a chair for days, and even weeks, on end: themarshallproject.org/2020/02/07/the…