When prosecutors cut deals with informants, it results in criminals dodging prison time, cases unraveling and – in rare but tragic instances – men serving time for crimes they did not commit.
High turnover among Metro bus drivers during a time of expansion in the transit system resulted in people with less-than-stellar driving records finding work behind the wheel. One of those drivers pleaded guilty in July to vehicular manslaughter after his bus struck a woman earlier this year.
Neglect and violence have plagued Ohio’s youth prisons and detention centers over the past several years, leading to injuries and even deaths in the facilities that use tax dollars to ostensibly protect and rehabilitate juvenile offenders.
These findings were revealed in three of more than a dozen major investigative reports that appeared in The Enquirer over the past year. The youth prison investigation – a collaboration with The Columbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal and other USA TODAY Network affiliated news organization in Ohio – resulted in Gov. Mike DeWine immediately launching a task force to reform the state’s juvenile incarceration system.
The investigation was named a finalist for this year’s Scripps Howard Journalism Award for Local/Regional Investigative Reporting.
SPECIAL REPORT: Ohio’s juvenile detention system struggles with violence, neglect
Often in this column, I talk about the importance of local journalism and our commitment to watchdog reporting. These investigations typically don’t command the same number of website page views as, say, a story about how to watch the solar eclipse or the color of Joe Burrow’s hair. But their impact is significant, measured by the awareness raised and the meaningful changes they spark. Just two weeks ago, DeWine’s task force issued its recommendations in a 30-page report. The most sweeping reform involves shuttering the state’s three large youth prisons and replacing them with smaller, community-level facilities. DeWine said the first lockup to close will be the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility near Cleveland.
I can’t overstate the investment these types of stories require, both in time and expertise. The youth prison investigation, anchored by our Statehouse reporter Laura Bischoff, involved the work of more than 20 journalists over an eight-month period. It’s easy to tally up people and hours. What’s hard to measure is the emotional toll these stories extract from the journalists, who interviewed grieving families and reviewed hours of gut-wrenching surveillance videos.
“I spent so much time talking to people on the inside of the system – parents, employees, kids. At times it was personally emotional, exhausting and frustrating,” Bischoff said. “On projects like this, I find resolve with the fact that the work will shine a light on the problems and injustices. And maybe some good change will come of the work.”
Investigative journalism sometimes carries the occupational hazard of being harassed and threatened – usually a sign that we’re onto something. During my time as editor of the Reno Gazette-Journal in Nevada, our reporters were working on a story about overtime abuse in the city’s fire department. One evening, my home phone rang (I still had a landline back then) and I answered it despite the caller ID reading “unavailable.” After I said, “Hello,” a man whispered: “You better hope your house doesn’t catch fire, because we’re going to sit back and watch … it … burn.”
The Enquirer front page on Nov. 12, 2023. The special report on chaos in Ohio’s youth prisons and detention facilities was published in USA TODAY Network publications across the state.
Winners of the Scripps Howard Awards will be announced in a web broadcast Oct. 20. Also a finalist in our category is the Chicago-based nonprofit City Bureau, which investigated missing person cases and found a disproportionate impact on Black women and girls. Their work won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting this year.
The E.W. Scripps Co., which owned the Cincinnati Post before selling off its newspapers to focus on its broadcast operation, is based in Cincinnati. WCPO-TV is owned by Scripps. On top of its downtown headquarters on Third and Walnut streets is the famous Scripps lighthouse, a symbol of the company’s motto adopted in 1923: “Give light and the people will find their own way.”
Thank you for supporting our efforts to shine that light in our community.
Enquirer Executive Editor Beryl Love writes a biweekly column that takes you behind the scenes at The Enquirer. Occasionally, he shares his thoughts on local issues, particularly as they pertain to a free press and open government. Email him at [email protected]. Love also serves as regional editor for the USA TODAY Network Ohio.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Enquirer-Dispatch investigation finalist for Scripps Howard award
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