| Chapter 13
Covering Prisons and Jails
By Jenifer Warren
The Good Ol’ Bus Depot
While these “official” sources can yield great story ideas, it’s hard to top the potential payoff of good old street reporting. Andy Furillo, who has covered prisons for the Sacramento Bee off and on for 14 years, says that in his view, there is no richer vein of good yarns than the city’s downtown bus depot. Why? That’s where many prisoners wind up when they’re released.
“On days when I had nothing to do, I used to go down to the bus station and wait for the parolees to get dropped off,” Furillo said. “The buses from the local prisons usually rolled in between 10 a.m. and noon, and there were always guys just getting out who had lots of stories to tell.”
Good thinking.
Here are some other areas that might produce stories for enterprising reporters.
Themes for Today
There was a time when prison or jail meant “three hots and a cot” and journalists who covered the beat mostly concerned themselves with the occasional riot, escape or inmate beating at the hands of a rogue guard. Today, the correctional system is far-flung and complicated, and the meaty stories buried within it are seemingly limitless.
To make the most of the beat, reporters should possess a handful of core qualities: open mindedness, the ability to penetrate bureaucracy, an ear for half-truths ” and dogged investigative skills.
But perhaps most importantly, the best prison reporters have a knack for writing stories that engage readers—including editors— in a subject many would rather ignore.
Prison Break notwithstanding, most people are completely in the dark about the reality of prison. Some are fascinated by it. Some are repelled by it. And some are engaged by the prospect that every so often, the authorities sweep in and lock up the innocent.
But most people—including many editors—only get interested in the correctional system when a Martha Stewart or Robert Downey Jr. winds up in it. The rest of the time, they could care less about what happens in prison or to prisoners.
It is your job to make them care.
That is not to say the only test of a worthy story is whether people want to hear or read about it. But without an advocate in the editor ranks who believes in the importance of what you report, and without consumers who are moved by it, it’s tough sledding.
I was fortunate to work for a newspaper that valued corrections coverage—and for bosses willing to give it good space and play. It helped that California’s prison system was in crisis, yielding dramatic stories on a regular basis. But many other reporters at large California papers were not accorded the internal support I enjoyed.
If you face that dilemma, remember that one key to winning interest in your work is picking the right stories—or picking the right approach to a particular story. Here are some compelling themes to watch on the correctional beat today:
Prisons as Budget Busters
Even readers who think all prisoners are unworthy of their attention will be moved by stories that explore prison spending—and examine what sort of payoff taxpayers are getting in return for their substantial investment.
- How have increases in correctional spending compared with increases in spending on other public programs, such as higher education or health care?
- How does your state’s per-inmate spending compare with the national average? If it’s more or less, why is that?
- How do staff-to-inmate ratios, as well as correctional officer pay, influence the prison budget?
- Some states are exploring alternatives to incarceration that cost less and still hold offenders accountable. Have these options been debated in your state? If not, why not?
- What are the cost drivers within corrections? Geriatrics? Medical care? How have other states coped?
- What is the recidivism rate? Should taxpayers be getting more public safety bang for their buck from the prison system?
Private Prisons
Private businesses have long played a role in the correctional system. But over the past few decades, the involvement of for-profit companies in the housing and management of offenders has grown dramatically. From their start in the mid-1980s, private prisons have grown to house 7.4 percent of the 1.59 million prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction by mid-2007, and the industry was betting that the economic downturn would prompt states to send more convicts their way.
Entrepreneurs argue that they can build and operate prisons as safely and effectively as government—and often at a lower per-inmate cost. But critics question the ethics of turning the basic government function of criminal punishment over to profit-seeking outfits, and argue that the need to make money for shareholders can diminish care and security.
Despite such qualms, overcrowding in many states has kept business hopping within the private prison industry. Reporters in states where this is the case should get to know the private prisons and pay careful attention to campaign contributions, looking for signs of inappropriate influence over contract decisions.
Geriatric Prisoners
More people are going to prison in America now, and they are staying longer. And that is turning the nation’s prison population increasingly gray.
More geriatrics means higher health care costs and numerous challenges in terms of custody and prison staffing. It also means lots of story potential for reporters.
- Some states have “compassionate release,” allowing terminally ill patients to die outside of prison with judicial or executive approval. This option sometimes triggers emotional battles that make for good stories.
- Find the oldest prisoner in the system and profile him. Include the costs and details of his long-term nursing care, as well as comments from his victim and any remaining family.
- Are prisons equipped to handle old and feeble inmates who can’t hear, can’t move at the pace demanded by officers, and are often preyed on by younger inmates?
- Some prisons have hospices. Check them out to see what the end of life looks like for old inmates.
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