This course is organized into three, one-hour lessons each centered on an area of great importance in covering jails: mental illness, financial injustice and mistreatment. Each lesson features one or two journalism projects as a driving vehicle for learning, breaking down the reporting process for each with the help of the journalist behind the piece.

While delving into these topics, you’ll learn investigative reporting skills you can apply to any coverage area. They include: starting off right by understanding the landscape; using lessons learned from a single death to begin identifying problems across entire systems; knowing what documents exist and how to get them; building and maintaining sources; making the most out of interviews; and holding officials accountable so that your stories make an impact.