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 "private prisons" ...
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Billions Behind Bars: Inside America's Prison Industry
An investigation of the controversial and profitable business of private prisons.
Tags: prison; private; incarceration
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"A Crack in the Swiss Vault"
This investigative story takes an in-depth look into offshore banking, specifically in Switzerland. Bradley Birkenfeld is an American citizen serving extensive prison time for revealing to the U.S. Government that "he and his colleagues" had been secretly helping their "American customers evade hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes" through private banking divisions in Geneva.
Tags: taxes; tax evasion; Geneva; Switzerland; UBS; banking; investments; IRS; Department of Justice
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Prison Profiting: Behind Arizona's Immigration Law
NPR's report shows that private prison corporations helped to write Arizona 1070, its controversial immigration law. The story examines "the private prison companies' handin getting the law written and passed, beginning with a private meeting at the Hyatt in washington D.C and ending with extensive campaign contributions and political connections to lawmakers and the governor of Arizona."
Tags: immigration; private prisons; lobbying; Arizona 1070; illegal immigrant; illegal immigration; criminal justice
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Juvenile Justice
“A massive conspiracy had corrupted the juvenile system of one Pennsylvania County”. Two judges, who are to use their power for good were using it to make money. They were working together to send teen offenders to prisons, even for their first minor offenses. These judges were making money from a private jail owners for every teen sent to prison.
Tags: Mark Ciavarella; courtroom; court; legal system; Michael Conahan; detention center; law enforcement
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Improbable Private Prison Scam Plays Out in Hardin, Montana
The story developed out of Hardin, Montana, which had built a prison that sat vacant for two years. Captain Michael Hilton, head of American Private Police Force (APPF), was contacted to operate the prison and fill it with prisoners. After extensive research, it was determined Hilton was a conman with a history of civil judgments and a criminal record. Furthermore, the APPF contract was also a scam.
Tags: American Private Police Force(APPF); Hardin; Montana; Michael Hilton; prison; conman; fraud; rural communities
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Dying in Cell 40
Ashley Ellis, a 23-year-old Vermont woman was put in prison for a misdemeanor traffic violation. Under the private company Prison Health Services' care, she died when access to her medication was denied. "Dying in Cell 40" explores how the relationship between the state and for-profit contractors creates a flawed system where death is inevitable.
Tags: Prison Health Services; Vermont; Ashley Ellis; medication; private contractors; state; prison; cell 40;
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Delaware's Deadly Prisons
This four day series examined the health care for more than 6,000 inmates at Delaware's prisons. Documents and interviews showed that inmates did not receive routine or emergency care from state-contracted medical providers for ailments from cancer to AIDS. In several cases inmates died. The state did not oversee the contractors, and employees of the contractors said they were told that cost is more important than care.
Tags: prison; terminal disease; inmate care; AIDS; cancer; Department of Justice; Department of Corrections; FOIA; Department of Health and Human Services; private contractors; privatization; jail; incarceration
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The Lynndie England Interview.
Lynndie England, an army private whose photograph symbolized the Abu Ghraib prison scandal interviewed with this CBS affiliated TV station for the first time. Excerpts from this interview made headlines and was aired in many other TV stations across the world. As England says in the interview, she was merely following orders by posing with and smiling at the prisoners.
Tags: Lynndie England; Abu Ghraib prison inmates; Aby Ghraib; interview with Lyndie England; Iraq
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The Un-Americans
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have begun to deport or imprison immigrants who committed minor crimes, sometimes jailing them without bail while they await deportation. This investigation looks into recent immigration laws that allow agents to deport immigrants or imprison them for minor offenses such as shoplifting. In some cases, the laws are retroactive and punish immigrants even more for crimes for which they have already paid. Prison conditions for some of these immigrants tend to be especially harsh and inhumane. This has been the case for Haskell prison, a privately-owned facility that is below the standards set by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Tags: deportation; immigration laws; Haskell prison; Texas Commission on Jail Standards; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; FOIA
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Sheriffs' Exposes
This investigation of two sheriffs in Georgia who used inmates housed in their jails for their own personal and private gain, essentially making slave laborers out of county prisoners, shocked many. Under Georgia law, it is a felony-violation of oath of office-punishable by up to five years in prison each time a sheriff uses inmate labor for personal gain. As a result to this investigation, one sheriff resigned after FBI opened investigations on him.
Tags: sheriffs; inmates; abuse; Georgia; jail; prison; county; slave laborer; prisoner