Guardians ad litem hold significant weight in child custody cases. But a @kelseyturner.bsky.social investigation of Washington cases found that when they conduct biased investigations or produce shoddy reports, discipline rarely extends beyond a reprimand.
www.investigatewest.org/washington-c...
ICE detained Wilfredo Castillo at what he thought was a routine appointment for his asylum case, saying he missed check-ins on an app.
He spent 11 months at a detention center, where he was stabbed.
Don't miss the latest from @rachelspacek.bsky.social
www.investigatewest.org/i-was-trying...
Come join this free event! I'll be sharing how we used police employment and misconduct data in our recent investigation of Idaho prisons.
Idaho Lawmakers are advancing legislation meant to close a gap in state law that makes it difficult to hold correctional officers accountable for sexually abusing inmates.
The bill sponsor said the effort was inspired by our reporting. www.investigatewest.org/idaho-lawmak...
NEW: After @investigatewest.bsky.social used records from the IDOC & POST Council to report on sexual abuse in Idaho prisons, and @invisible.institute published police employment history data in the state, authorities are now changing policies to conceal both sources of information from the public.
Our reporting on Idaho prisons used public records to identify dozens of guards who resigned after misconduct — and it was met by calls for transparency from the governor.
Instead, the state decided those records are no longer public. W/@invisible.institute: www.investigatewest.org/idaho-record...
It took more than a year for SpaceX to install equipment protecting workers — and only after Washington Labor & Industries opened an investigation.
Big story from our Roy W. Howard fellow Aspen Ford, going out with a bang before her next gig. www.investigatewest.org/a-starlink-l...
In 2023, SpaceX safety managers internally expressed concern that a new Starlink lab in Redmond didn't have proper ventilation.
Customer support workers next door, given no PPE, then reported symptoms of chemical exposure, including a miscarriage.
Investigate West is kind of like ProPublica, but focusing on the PNW.
Outstanding reporting here re multiple credible allegations and lawsuits against Dr. Geoffrey Stiller, who used to be at the forefront of gender affirmation surgery.
Trans people, like everyone, deserve safe medical care.
Rep. Tarra Simmons, the first formerly incarcerated lawmaker in WA, had her convictions vacated in 2023 and said it felt like being freed from an "invisible prison."
This year, emails show, she supported cuts to legal aid groups that help others do the same. www.investigatewest.org/make-it-make...
In the state that incarcerates women at the nation's highest rate, @wilsonc.bsky.social and I uncovered rampant sexual abuse by Idaho women's prison guards. After a year of reporting, we published 6 stories examining the system that failed to protect them. 🧵 1/
Grantees @wbryen.bsky.social & @wilsonc.bsky.social investigated sexual assault reports made by 25 women against more than 40 prison guards and revealed how the Idaho Department of Corrections systematically tolerates the sexual abuse of inmates. @investigatewest.bsky.social
👉 bit.ly/47W9JAz
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39 people died in WA prisons last year, a number that rose during the pandemic. At least three other prisoners died of infections during FY 2024, one of whom was 45 years old. Read this story by @brandonblock.bsky.social - www.investigatewest.org/how-a-wa-pri...
From youth labor violations to housing abuses to pandemic aid fraud, Cascade PBS investigative reporters cast light into undercovered corners of Washington. Our final Impact Report and a thread of some of the team's best work: www.cascadepbs.org/impact-repor...
"For the next five minutes, the woman listened as four men — a prosecutor, defense attorney, judge and police detective — debated what, exactly, Rogers meant by vagina."
Hard to say what's the most shocking part of this @investigatewest.bsky.social series. But this courtroom dialogue is up there.
The Idaho Department of Correction issued a news release in response to our Guarded by Predators series. It repeats agency policies but does not dispute our findings.
Highly recommend this series by my colleagues Whitney Bryen & @wilsonc.bsky.social They spent a year interviewing women who were sexually abused by prison guards & staff in Idaho, digging through court recordings, and public records and it SHOWS in this work.
A year of reporting by INVW has uncovered the unjust reality for the roughly 1,300 women currently in Idaho prisons: Once behind bars, they’re kept there by mostly male guards who can harass, grope, and sexually assault them with confidence that it will be kept quiet.
In today's story:
-State police told a guard accused of rape that they're more interested in going after women for false reporting.
-Those detectives wrote, falsely, that a woman said "no" when asked if she had sexual contact prison staff. She said yes. www.investigatewest.org/case-closed-...
Day 2 story: bsky.app/profile/wils...
Damn, what a story.
This series on rape and sexual abuse by Idaho prison workers has some chilling, enraging and tender writing and reporting throughout - and exposes the ways our system continually lets alleged perpetrators off the hook. Please give it a read:
Idaho incarcerates women more often than any other state.
Once thrown behind bars, many of those women are sexually abused by guards shielded from consequences — while victims are blamed.
Read the latest in our "Guarded by Predators" series www.investigatewest.org/in-idaho-wom...
Only one of those guards charged criminally ended up being sentenced to prison.
But that case — a guard who raped an inmate after driving her to a medical appointment — has been kept hidden from the public for five years, until now. www.investigatewest.org/the-idaho-pr...
More than two dozen women incarcerated in an Idaho prison told us they were sexually abused by staff.
And we identified 37 prison workers accused of sexual misconduct toward imprisoned women in the last 10 years. Most resigned or faced few consequences. www.investigatewest.org/staff-sexual...
Just under a year ago, my colleague Whitney Bryen and I began hearing about women in Idaho prisons being sexually abused by staff. We investigated — and what we've found since has shocked us.
Today, the first two stories in our 6(!)-part series were published.
Our investigation has found:
-At least 59 documented allegations of staff sexually abusing imprisoned women since 2020. It's an undercount.
-37 prison workers accused in the last decade
-Of those, 18 were guards who resigned. 8 were fired.
www.investigatewest.org/staff-sexual...
