BackstoryJustice The Backstory: Seth Freed Wessler Wessler discusses how he discovered and reported on the U.S. Coast Guard’s fleet of “floating Guantánamos,” which detain and shackle low-level smugglers in international waters for weeks or even months. Seth Freed WesslerNovember 21, 2017
InvestigationJustice The Coast Guard’s ‘Floating Guantánamos’ U.S. Coast Guard is shackling low-level smugglers on ships for weeks in international waters. Seth Freed WesslerNew York Times MagazineNovember 20, 2017
ImpactJustice, Politics Obama’s DOJ Says It One More Time: Private Prisons Aren’t Working Another audit is perhaps the final piece of official evidence countering Donald Trump’s belief in for-profit incarceration. Seth Freed WesslerDecember 21, 2016
InvestigationImmigration, Justice, Politics Donald Trump’s Looming Mass Criminalization The only way to quickly deport 3 million immigrants is to first make them into criminals — and he’ll have the tools to do so on day one. Seth Freed WesslerThe NationNovember 28, 2016
ImpactImmigration, Justice ICE Plans to Reopen the Very Same Private Prison the Feds Just Closed Advocates cheered when the Justice Department began shuttering its private prisons. But immigration officials saw an opportunity. Seth Freed WesslerOctober 27, 2016
ImpactJustice, Politics The Obama Administration Continues Pulling Away From Private Prison Companies Homeland Security launches a review of private detention centers, weeks after DOJ began closing its own facilities. Seth Freed WesslerSeptember 2, 2016
InvestigationBusiness, Justice, Politics What the Bureau of Prisons Knew The US Department of Justice says it will reduce and eventually end its use of private prisons. Seth Freed WesslerRevealAugust 27, 2016
ImpactJustice, Politics Justice Department to End All Federal Private Prisons The announcement was made following our yearlong probe uncovering dozens of questionable deaths and years of dire warnings from internal monitors. Seth Freed WesslerAugust 18, 2016
ImpactImmigration, Justice The Feds Will Shut Down a Troubled Private Prison The facility is among several in which our reporting has uncovered dozens of deaths that involved substandard medical care. Seth Freed WesslerAugust 15, 2016
InvestigationJustice, Politics They Knew Something Was Going On The US government repeatedly ignored its own watchdogs as dozens of noncitizens died in its private prisons. Seth Freed WesslerThe NationJune 15, 2016