Wisconsin Watch
Project: Inside Waupun Correctional Institution’s ‘nightmare’ lockdown
Madison,Wisconsin
https://wisconsinwatch.org/
Interview with Jim Malewitz, Deputy Managing Editor, Wisconsin Watch
Project:
The newsroom’s initial ambitious effort to scrutinize the prison complaint system and the lack of independent scrutiny over inmate complaints. This ended up yielding an interim story about an ongoing 5, 6, 7-months plus lockdown and deteriorating conditions within the prison as well as medical neglect within the prison. And that led to further reporting and further discoveries about lockdown conditions at additional prisons across Wisconsin that hadn't been publicly reported.
Time:
18 months and continuing. Wisconsin Watch successfully pitched this project to the New York Times as part of its local reporting fellowship and reporting on its data-driven analysis of this project is continuing.
Technologies used:
Google Pinpoint to organize and internally share documents and findings
How it Started:
Years ago, Wisconsin Watch reported on issues with prison conditions. And still - on average each week, Wisconsin Watch receives at least one phone call from an inmate who share complaints about the prison system.
While every grievance doesn’t necessarily report out or the newsroom lacks the resources to pursue the leads, the calls outlet took the opportunity to do a deep dive and explore potential injustice in the prison system through a large, systematic way. Their project explored questions such as what is the pain point for these inmates? Where is the lack of accountability? Why can’t prisoners report these concerns to an independent body?
Challenges:
The newsroom initially logged a data request of all the complaints filed by inmates so they could assemble and analyze a database so they could identify any “specific pain points in the system” but the Wisconsin Department of Corrections denied it.
So they found alternative ways to get what they needed to report on the story, including intentional outreach to prisoners via prisoner advocates. That still continued to pose challenges as communication with inmates is one-way and visitation was restricted.
Additionally, the Department of Corrections has been slow to respond to other public records requests.
Documents/Data:
Wisconsin Watch relied heavily on other public records held within the Department of Corrections as well as court records and internal records that inmates themselves have shared.
Impact:
Although Wisconsin Watch wasn’t the first to report the prison lockdowns, it was the first media outlet that framed the issue as a human rights issue and describe the conditions within the prison. This helped launch this story into regular coverage across many media outlets.
Additionally, the chief of the Department of Corrections has had to answer questions during his own reconfirmation hearing and legislation has been proposed to improve conditions within the prison system.
Legislation has also been proposed to improve conditions within the prison system.
Advice:
Find people who have built trust with the communities you want to connect with, in this case, inmates, and explain what you want to accomplish so that they can help make introductions
Be transparent in what you can and cannot do with inmates who contact you so as to set clear expectations.
Be kind to yourself and think about those situations where an inmate may feel you are their savior when in reality you are a journalist trying to understand the system.