CHANGING THE NARRATIVE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE Annual Report 2015 Carroll Bogert President Stats Letter from the President

Bill Keller Editor-in-Chief Our criminal justice system is broken. It is plagued by Board of Directors race and class disparities at every stage from arrest to Fred Cummings incarceration. Prisons are overcrowded and make little Nicholas Goldberg Nicole Gordon effort at rehabilitation. Jails have become dumping Jeffrey Halis Laurie Hays grounds for addicts and the mentally ill. In too many James Leitner communities, people fear the police rather than turn to If you’ve opened our annual report, you probably William L. McComb Jonathan Moses them for protection. don’t need persuading that the American criminal Ben Reiter justice system is in crisis. The statistics tell the story. Advisory Board The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other major country despite the fact Soffiyah Elijah that violent crime is near 40-year lows. Even in the bitterly divided world of American Andrew Jarecki politics, both liberals and conservatives have vowed Marc Levin U.S. Joan Petersilia their commitment to reform. Achieving it will CHINA David Simon

Bryan Stevenson RUSSIA require hard work: from advocates, criminal justice

INDIA experts, law enforcement, the judiciary, and yes,

BRAZIL good and skilfull politicians.

It will also take great . No and hedge fund manager, launched The social problem has ever been solved Marshall Project based on his belief that without shining a light into some dark the criminal justice system is a national corners. That’s what The Marshall Project disgrace and high-quality journalism was born to do. In just two years, we’ve could help elevate the issue. Carroll, once 2,200,000 published approximately 650 criminal a foreign correspondent for Newsweek, justice stories and worked with a diverse spent nearly two decades at Human people are behind bars in the United States. Another range of media partners. Rights Watch before feeling impelled Credits We’ve had an amazing launch. In to focus on America’s biggest human Cover image by 4,700,000 are on probation or parole, which limits our first year, President Barack Obama rights problem: criminal justice. We’re Jabin Botsford of their ability to find work or housing, and to vote. granted us an exclusive interview. By proud to work with one of the country’s the Washington 18 months, we’d won our first Pulitzer. preeminent journalists, our Editor-in- Post. Unbelievable We’ve prompted federal investigations, Chief Bill Keller, in leading The Marshall illustration and informed a Supreme Court opinion, Project. photograph by helped improve police training, and Our aim is to create and sustain a sense Wesley Allsbrook gotten cameras installed in a prison of urgency about criminal justice. We and Benjamin where abuse was rampant. Along the hope you will find a way to help. Rasmussen. way, we’ve told fresh and important Features stories and given voice to Americans 6,000,000 are blocked 90 percent of criminal Roughly 80,000 are kept illustration by Tyler who were not being heard in our national from voting, 1,500,000 defendants qualify as in solitary confinement Boss. Audience conversation. illustration by in Florida alone. indigent. 5 out of 6 in a 6’x8’ cell for 23 Neil Barsky Carroll Bogert We both come to this issue with Founder and President Wesley Allsbrook. people awaiting trial hours a day. Some are can’t post bail. held there for years. hopeful hearts. Neil, a former reporter chairman of the board Thurgood Marshall photograph by Cecil0 J.2 Williams. 02 03 About

The Marshall Project is a nonprofit newsroom Subjects devoted to covering We Cover criminal justice. Bail Reform Death Penalty Investigative reporting is the core of Drug Laws what we do. Our reporters dive into stories that other media have missed Families of Incarcerated People or misunderstood. We often spend months interviewing sources, digging Gun Violence through documents, filing Freedom of Health and Mental Information Act requests, and visiting Health in Prisons jails, prisons, courtrooms, and police Immigration stations around the United States. Indigent Defense We keep a close eye on breaking criminal Juvenile Justice justice news, looking for opportunities Mass Incarceration to provide context or analysis. Since our launch in November 2014, we Money & Politics have published a steady stream of Policing stories, including profiles, interviews, commentaries, and first-person Prison Conditions narratives. Racial Disparities

Sentencing Reform Our journalism has had impact around the country. Solitary Confinement

Our Pulitzer Prize- A Record of Trouble The Long & Winding Unfreed told the heart- U.S. Supreme Court After we published Following the A Boy Among Men No Country for Young After we published winning investigation, exposed fraud, violence, Detainment of Diana wrenching story of a Justice Stephen Breyer This Boy’s Life, on publication of The revealed the terrible Men, which followed Attica’s Ghosts on An Unbelievable Story and inadequate care at Ramos followed Colorado man who is cited The Prosecutor life sentences without Deadly Consequence consequences of a 17-year-old placed brutality at New York’s of Rape, was featured halfway houses in Los a woman held in mistakenly released & the Snitch, our piece parole for juveniles, of Solitary with a housing a teenager in a in a juvenile detention infamous upstate on , Angeles. Shortly after immigration detention from prison, remakes on the execution of a Amnesty International Cellmate, which told prison full of adult men facility for getting into a prison, the Department and is used in trainings our story ran, state in Arizona for years, himself as a family man potentially innocent took up Taurus of a murder in Illinois in Michigan. The article, fight at school, helped of Justice launched an for police and first officials questioned the despite having and upstanding citizen man, in an opinion on Buchanan’s case for that resulted from read by nearly half a propel reform in West investigation, cameras responders. Dept. of Corrections committed no real — and then is sent lethal injection. clemency in Louisiana. doubling up inmates in million people, brought Virginia. A few months were installed inside the about our findings. crime. back. solitary confinement, new awareness to rape after our piece ran, the stairwells, and the three the Bureau of Prisons in prison. state passed a bill to guards finally pleaded vowed to limit the reduce these practices. guilty. 04 practice. 05 Q&A with the Editor Products

Bill Keller, editor-in-chief of The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project is a leader in worked for from 1984 to 2014 digital innovation. We have built tools as a reporter, op-ed columnist and editor. As a to curate the best news from around correspondent, he covered the end of apartheid in the web and help journalists unearth South Africa and the collapse of the Soviet Union. data on criminal justice issues that is often buried on various government Leaving The New York Times after 30 Do you think nonprofit journalism is the websites. years must’ve been a big adjustment… wave of the future? The biggest change was going from a I think it’s one wave, especially when it Next to Die is a haunting interactive that newsroom of 1,300 journalists, with about comes to the deep, watchdog reporting profiles every person scheduled to be put to 1.5 million paying subscribers — numbers that — because it takes patience and death in the U.S. Working with media outlets that open doors and assure attention — to, money — is withering at all but the best in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Florida, in the beginning, some empty desks, a few for-profit news organizations. We’ve Won 13 Major Oklahoma, and Virginia, Next to Die tracks generous backers, and a mission. Awards Including each case and brings attention, and thus Politicians have to have well-formed accountability, to upcoming executions. Next Pulitzer Prize for What’s the thing you’re proudest of so far? ideas on our economy, schools, foreign to Die has been embedded on 100 websites Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer was a great boost, and the policy, how to fight crime even — but and won one million pageviews. interview with Obama was a proud not, until recently, criminal justice. Why George Polk Award for moment for a young startup, but my do you think it took so long for criminal Justice Reporting The Record organizes criminal justice news favorite things about this job are, first, justice to get the attention it deserves? so a reader can search by any name or topic. watching our passionate and relentless While crime rates were high, in the World’s Best Designed As our reporters come across great articles, we team of journalists and, second, the way 1980’s and 1990’s, politicians were afraid News Site from the tag them with popular search terms like “mass we have used partnerships to amplify our to touch the issue. But now we have a Society for News Design incarceration,” “exoneration,” or “Sandra voice. whole generation that has grown up with Bland,” sending them into an automated feed declining crime, and it’s become a little on our website. This is particularly useful In a system as rife with problems as criminal less risky to point out that the system in connecting different aspects of criminal justice, what’s the role media can play? costs billions of dollars, alienates whole justice. Readers can type in Trayvon Martin’s The media has too often been part of the communities, and doesn’t make us safer. name, for example, and get an up-to-date problem, ratcheting up fear, covering news feed, curated by The Marshall Project’s crime but paying too little attention to the Where do you get your story ideas? experts, about his life, death, and how it systems that are supposed to deal with it. Most of our story ideas flow up from In our first 18 inspired the Black Lives Matter movement. months, with a staff At its best, the media can draw the public the reporters, who keep in touch eye to policing strategies, sentencing with policymakers, practitioners, of 21, we have Klaxon is an open-source tool we created for practices, alternatives to incarceration, advocates and other sources. We have published more than investigative journalists to track information the treatment of juvenile offenders, a large network of experts, in and out of 650 stories. that is often buried inside government web recidivism, and many other issues that for government, who provide data and other sites. Our reporters use it to keep track of decades were largely off the media’s radar. evidence. And then we go — to the streets, updates on the cases of people on death row, to the courts, to the prisons. money spent on state and federal prisons, How do you think The Marshall Project and government data sets. Developers from adds to the media landscape? What is one thing you’d like to see more the Texas Tribune, Associated Press and The We can direct sustained attention to of? New York Times are helping build Klaxon and the failures of the system and examine I’d like to see more intensive reporting adapt it for their own use. possible solutions. This gives ammunition on solutions. What really works in to policymakers, advocates and others community policing, say, or in preparing 06 pressing for reforms. the incarcerated for life after prison. 07 Roadmap to a Pulitzer

An Unbelievable Story of Rape tells the story How We Got of a young woman who the Story reported being raped The article, which we reported with at knifepoint in her ProPublica, spanned 16 months across 2 apartment, only to be states. We reviewed disbelieved by police as crime scene photos, surveillance footage, the perpetrator went on and thousands of records. Unbelievable to assault other women. was published to wide acclaim and read by Years later, two relentless female 1.5 million people. It detectives in Colorado arrested a man reached 4.5 million suspected of raping several women and listeners on This revealed that the original victim, whom American Life. we called “Marie,” had been telling the truth all along. August 2014 – can come from this Marie had never agreed to be May 2015 — that if she goes interviewed. Other stories had reported We send Marie through the difficult what happened, but not what went emails, meet her experience of December 2015 April 2016 wrong in the initial investigation. attorney, and speak reliving her attack, it The lead detective in An Unbelievable We strove to find out why Marie had to him dozens of can serve the public. Marie’s case finally February 2016 Story of Rape wins not been believed, why one police times to gain Marie’s agrees to speak with We travel to This the Pulitzer Prize department had failed where another trust. August 2015 We go to Colorado us. We interview American Life’s for Explanatory succeeded, and what were the We learn ProPublica to interview the two him days before offices to review the Reporting, and seven consequences for her and other rape We file public is investigating the female detectives publication. script with Ira Glass other awards. victims. records requests story from Colorado. responsible for and record narration. with three police Rather than finding Marc O’Leary, The 12,000-word All told, the script Today Here’s how we reported An Unbelievable departments, two compete, we decide the man who raped story goes through goes through 15 An Unbelievable Story of Rape. prosecutors’ offices, to team up. Marie and at least six editors, which re-writes. Story of Rape is used and review court four other women. proves critical to the in police academies, When Detective Stacy Galbraith and Sgt. Edna records in Seattle. September & story’s success. February 26, 2016 emergency rooms, Hendershot figured out that a serial rapist was at October 2015 November 2015 “Anatomy of Doubt” and universities to work, they joined with other Colorado detectives June 2015 We interview Marie’s We interview O’Leary December 16, 2015 airs on WBEZ and the train police and first to hunt him down. “Two heads, three heads, four We spend a day two foster moms, her from prison. Our The story is 500 other stations responders on how heads, sometimes are better than one, right?” interviewing Marie. former boyfriend, data editor reviews published by The that broadcast This to deal with rape Hendershot said. First we answer and members of FBI reports and Marshall Project and American Life. The victims. every question she the Kirkland Police investigates why we ProPublica to critical show dedicates the has. Above all, she Department around do not have reliable acclaim. entire hour to our wants to know that Seattle. statistics on rape in story. something positive the U.S. 08 09 Features Audience

The Marshall Project’s goal is to

What They’re build the audience of people in this Readership Saying on country who care about criminal Stats Social Media Each month, more than Our regular features have earned a justice reform. In just two years, we “I’m for criminal justice 400,000 people visit loyal audience. Some of Our reform, which is why have reached millions of readers. themarshallproject.org. Media Partners I’m excited about The Opening Statement Marshall Project. Read Here are some of our best-read � Twitter 35,000+ We curate the country’s best criminal justice news. Each The New York Times their work.” investigations. � Facebook 40,000+ morning, we publish a roundup of the day’s most important Washington Post � Cory Booker ✉ Subscribers 26,000+ The Texas Tribune criminal justice information from a wide variety of sources. An Unbelievable Story of Rape by T. Christian Miller and PBS’s Frontline “Follow The Marshall Our Opening Statement has a loyal following of 23,500 Ken Armstrong, published with ProPublica and broadcast The Times-Picayune Project for news of subscribers, including many leading advocates and on This American Life, reached 1.5 million readers and was San Francisco Chronicle (in)justice in America policymakers. downloaded 2.4 million times. NPR Investigations @marshallproj This American Life “#justice #newjimcrow” Life Inside Life Without Parole by Beth Schwartzapfel, published with All Things Considered � Michelle Alexander We seldom hear from this country’s 2.2 million incarcerated , reached roughly 200,000 readers online Ebony men and women, nor from those who work on the frontlines and 700,000 people in the print edition. Vice “A really fine work of of criminal justice. Our Life Inside series, published each week Slate journalism, illuminating with Vice, is written by those in prison, police officers, lawyers, The Prosecutor and the Snitch by Maurice Possley, The New Yorker about rape and how it’s doctors and victims. We’ve heard what it’s like to be gay in published in collaboration with the Washington Post, The Guardian treated.” prison, how to invest in the stock market while behind bars, reached 2 million readers. Latino USA Nicholas Kristof and from a juror with second thoughts about a death penalty � Essence verdict. Their narratives have reached millions. Attica’s Ghosts by Tom Robbins, published with The New Wired “A Brutal Beating Wakes York Times, reached 355,000 digital readers and 1.1 million Mother Jones Attica’s Ghosts, via Case in Point print subscribers. NBCBLK @nytimes… brutal is an This biweekly column by Andrew Cohen, broadcast in Mic.com understatement.” partnership with NPR’s The Takeaway, explores cases that Solitary to the Streets by Christie Thompson reached 13 Refinery 29 � Martina Navratilova shed light on the criminal justice system. Whether it’s a judge WBUR million listeners on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things deciding not to rule on a case for five years, or the story of Prison Legal News Considered, and another 80,000 readers online. an intellectually disabled man held in isolation for three WBEZ decades, these stories reveal the absurd, and often cruel, Houston Chronicle Bill Keller’s interview with The Wire creator David machinations of our system of crime and punishment. AL.com Simon on Baltimore’s anguish reached half a million 010 readers. 011 Financials Supporters

Here is a breakdown 2015 EXPENSES We are most grateful to those who helped us launch The Marshall Project of The Marshall and continue to support us in our early years. This list covers $5,000+ Project’s revenue and 80% NEWSROOM donors from our founding through the end of 2015. expenses. While we 14% ADMIN & OPERATIONS Founding Donors Foundation Supporters Individual Supporters 6% FUNDRAISING began building our Neil Barsky and Joan S. The Abrams Foundation Joan Ganz Cooney and Holly Davidson Foundation Peterson Fund newsroom in early The Annie E. Casey Funding Laura and John Arnold Foundation The Leon and Toby Foundation Cooperman Family Fund Nonprofit 2014, we did not The Peter and Carmen Lucia Journalism Has The Atlantic Philanthropies Buck Foundation Fred Cummings publish our first story Never Been Timothy and Michele Butler Family Fund Joseph Faber More Important Barakett Foundation until that November. Robert Sterling Clark David Greenspan Charles K. Edmondson, Jr. Foundation Between 2004 and Foundation Nancy and Jeffrey Halis 2014, newspapers As a result, 2015 was Falconwood Foundation Philanthropic Fund Ford Foundation lost $28 billion in our first full year The Glades Foundation Laurie Hays advertising revenue. Jay Herman Fund Rockefeller Family Fund Hyatt Bass and Josh Klausner Investigative as an operational 2015 REVENUE The Jacob and Valeria reporting, the most Langeloth Foundation Silverleaf Foundation Seryl and Charles Kushner newsroom. Our Family Fund time-consuming and The John D. and Catherine T. Solomon Family Foundation expensive to produce, Steve Lipin detailed financial MacArthur Foundation The Statue Foundation has often been the first 55% FOUNDATIONS Open Society Foundations The Margaret and Daniel casualty. We fill that Loeb – Third Point statements are gap in investigative 43% INDIVIDUAL DONORS Foundation reporting today. Our available on our Nancy and Edwin Marks 2% EARNED INCOME Family Foundation reporters spend website. months chasing down a McComb Family Foundation story, and it shows. Ken Miller and Lybess Sweezy Jonathan Moses Craig Nerenberg and Phoebe Taubman The John and Wendy Neu Family Foundation Alice and Ben Reiter 012 Charitable Fund 013 Future

The Marshall Project is a start-up with big ambitions. Here’s where we hope to go in Mentoring a New the coming years. Generation of Reporters Regional Investigative Reporting We intend to put reporters in places such as Chicago and California, which Each summer we partner with journalism are hotbeds of criminal justice problems and movements for reform. This The Marshall Project is named after Thurgood Marshall, a true American hero and will help us pull in a geographically diverse audience and bring lesser- schools to bring the founder of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. His work as a lawyer there, including known local stories to national attention. students into our newsroom. Our the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, laid the groundwork for the civil interns are treated Expanding into Multimedia rights movement. As the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, he like reporters. They Making the criminal justice system more humane requires evoking come to our morning argued for a living, breathing Constitution that would protect freedom and equality empathy. Words can do that, but pictures do it better. We hope to produce meeting each day and op-docs, graphics, photo slideshows, and radio pieces for distribution on for all. Since his death in 1993, no other justice has ascended to the Supreme Court are encouraged to pitch multiple platforms. Investing in multimedia will help us reach younger and ideas. We help them with experience as a defense lawyer. more diverse audiences. develop stories, mentor

them through the writing Cultivating a Broad Range of Commentary “If Marshall were alive, I have no doubt that he would place criminal justice reform process, and give them Fixing our criminal justice system requires debating new policies. We bylines to add to their high among the urgent priorities of today’s civil rights movement, and that his would aspire to be the place where that conversation happens. We are dedicated portfolio. We place an be a powerful voice for change. It is for these reasons that I chose to name The to bringing in younger voices, undiscovered contributors, and fresh emphasis on diversity in thinking — opening up our platform to commentary from criminal justice our hiring. Marshall Project in his honor.” — Neil Barsky, founder of The Marshall Project experts, practitioners, and those with firsthand experience of the system. 014 015 themarshallproject.org

The Marshall Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. We achieve this through award-winning journalism, partnerships with other news outlets and public forums. In all of our work we strive to educate and enlarge the audience of people who care about the state of criminal justice.

The Marshall Project For More Information 156 West 56th Street, Suite 701 Kelli Payne / Director of Development New York, NY 10019 [email protected] 212-803-5200 212-830-5271