Resource Center

Stories

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 "isolate" ...

  • Locked Away

    "Locked Away" exposed a troubling fact: Some Ohio children with disabilities are isolated from their peers inside the so-called seclusion rooms – small cells, closets or old offices – as punishment when they misbehave or don’t follow teachers’ directions. But the state has no idea how often vulnerable children are sent to the rooms, nor could state officials say which schools used seclusion for their disabled students. Until reporters began work on “Locked Away,” no one had ever asked. The project, a joint effort by The Columbus Dispatch and StateImpact Ohio, has led to a statewide policy and rules to keep schools from misusing seclusion rooms.

    Tags: Education; children; disability; seclusion rooms

    By Jennifer Smith Richards; Molly Bloom; Ida Lieszkovszky

    The Columbus Dispatch

    2012

  • Secret Service Strip Club: El Salvador

    Seattle-based investigative reporter Chris Halsne tracks down a reluctant source in El Salvador to expose allegations that getting drunk, partying with strippers, and paying for sex with third-world prostitutes is part of the U.S. Secret Service culture. This investigative series is aired just weeks after agents were caught in Columbia with hookers – and just days after Homeland Security Director announced to Congress that Columbia was an isolated incident.

    Tags: corruption; U.S. Secret Service; El Salvador; Seattle

    By Chris Halsne, David Weed

    KIRO-TV (Seattle)

    2012

  • Disposable Soldiers

    The article exposes a stunning crime: the U.S. Army tortured an American soldier. The reporters discover that this case was not an isolated incident.

    Tags: torture; Fort Hood; Camp Taji; army; soldier; Afghanistan; Iraq

    By Joshua Kors

    The Nation

    2010

  • "The Lonely Soldier"

    In her book, author Helen Benedict reveals what it is like to be a female in the military and serving overseas. She shares stories of sexual abuse and "discrimination against women and people of color." Female soldiers also suffer from health problems caused by the "lack of adequate medical care for women." Benedict also looks at the lives of women after they return home who suffer from isolation and "multiples traumas of combat and sexual assault."

    Tags: Iraq war; female soldiers; National Guard; Afghanistan; Dept. of Veterans Affairs; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; Military Sexual Trauma; Air Force; Marines

    By Helen Benedict

    Beacon Press (Boston, Mass.)

    2009

  • For Their Own Good

    This story exposes juveniles, who are to serve trial as adults, are being held in isolation for over 20 hours a day. This process can last months or years while these juveniles wait for trial. The jail provides "less than the required minimum amount of education and physical activity". This story also revealed that judges and county officials weren't aware of the treatment of these juveniles. Though, state juvenile justice advocates were aware of the process, they did nothing to stop it.

    Tags: Harris county; juveniles; solitary confinement; adults; judges; Texas; youth; prisons; jail; justice department; kids

    By Chris Vogel

    Houston Press

    2009

  • Off Duty Cops

    For many years, abusive and illegal activity by officers of the Chicago Police Department has gone largely unchecked. This story highlighted two recent cases in which Chicagoans were beaten by off-duty cops, yet the "wall of silence" protected those officers until security camera videos of the events led to a public outcry. The story tried to show that these were not isolated incidents but were actually typical of the culture of the Chicago PD.

    Tags: police brutality; illegal activity; Chicago Police Department; wall of silence; civilian compliant data; Police Complaint Center;

    By Jim Avila; Glenn Ruppel; Martin Phillips; David Sloan; Sunny Antrim

    ABC News

    2008

  • Watching the Watchdogs

    The story documented how six tax investigators for the city of Pittsburgh were failing to do their job. Instead of looking for deadbeat businesses, they were shopping, taking four-hour lunch breaks or simply going home. Moreover, some of them got reimbursed for mileage on the days they were not working. Their jobs are especially critical in difficult financial times, when Pittsburgh is under state oversight because of its poor finances. The story had added weight because this was not an isolated case of one or two employees; the entire department has only eight tax investigators and this investigation found six of them goofing off.

    Tags: tax investigators; Pittsburgh; misconduct; city government;

    By Paul Van Osdol; Kendall Cross; Michael Lazorko

    WTAE-TV (Pittsburgh)

    2008

  • Talking Hands

    Talking Hands introduces a little-known branch of cognitive science: the linguistic, psychological and neurological study of sign language. "In recent years, research in these areas has been vital in shedding new light on the ways in which all language works in the human mind." In the book, a group of linguists study and analyze the "signing village" of Al-Sayyid, a remote Bedouin community in Israel that, because of isolation and intermarriage, has a rate of deafness 40 times that of the general population.

    Tags: science; language; hands; sign language; deaf; cognitive; learning; speaking; linguists; signing village of Al-Sayyid;

    By Margalit Fox

    Simon & Schuster

    2007

  • Western State

    "The series looked at violence and the use of restraints and isolation at Western State Hospital, the state's chief psychiatric hospital. It also examined the use of a new generation of anti-psychotic drug at the hospital and their effects on patients."

    Tags: hospitals; health care; psychiatric; anti-psychotic drugs; patients; violence

    By Alex Otto

    News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

    2007

  • The Caged Life

    These articles look into the treatment of the most isolated inamte at the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum (ADX), Thomas Silverstein.The use of long-term isolation to help manage prisoners is now a growing trend in America, especially during times when terrorism is considered at large.

    Tags: 9/11: terror; security; safety; isolate; Bureau of Prisoners; BOP;

    By Alan Prendergast

    Westword (Denver)

    2007