Beth Schwartzapfel
Writer, reader, nerd. Reporter for The Marshall Project covering criminal (in)justice, esp LGBTQ+, parole, addiction, health. Host of VIOLATION. It's not on us to complete the work—but neither can we stop doing it.
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- "At some point it becomes unethical to continue to participate in that..Can we provide this group of humans the care they’re entitled to? The answer is no. One person cannot ethically do that.” My latest for @themarshallproject.org www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/26/m...
- It is continually shocking to me how utterly awful is customer service at Securus, the prison email system (aka the only way this captive audience can readily communicate with the outside world).
- OTOH, these people were actually held accountable
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- THE REDACTIONS
- 11 yrs ago, @themarshallproject.org launched our brand-new website with part 1 of a @bykenarmstrong.bsky.social investigation & our first Life Inside piece, by John J. Lennon. Since then, we've published >2,600 pieces. And still, so much work to do. www.themarshallproject.org/2014/11/15/d...
- OK Louisiana, you do you. lailluminator.com/briefs/orlea...
- A “modern-day slave ship” was tugged off towards LA today, sold as scrap. The Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center—a floating jail—"caged tens of thousands of people unable to afford bail—mostly Black and brown men—for months and sometimes years while awaiting trial.” gothamist.com/news/nyc-cas...
- Hotels that don’t have carpet are making good choices
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- OK I often get weird press releases that are entirely unrelated to the journalism I do but this...is an entirely new level of WTAF.
- Annals of "who wrote this press release and why did they send it to me": what is a "cozy mystery heroine"?
- This is the second time a federal prison warden has denied my request to interview an incarcerated person because “the interview would probably cause serious unrest or disturb the good order of the institution.” How exactly a PHONE INTERVIEW would do this is bewildering to me.
- So proud of my colleague @sho-walter.bsky.social on the publication today of her book, REHAB: AN AMERICAN SCANDAL, which the NY Times called "a remarkable journalistic feat." www.kqed.org/forum/201010...
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- "We identified 100s of people who died in custody but weren’t listed..entire states that failed to report almost any deaths..The overwhelming majority of the records did not meet the Justice Department’s own minimum standards for accuracy and completeness." www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/07/d...
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- Every lawyer (esp every jailhouse lawyer) knows Farmer v. Brennan, the case that set the standard by which officials can be held liable when they put prisoners in danger. Few know the woman who filed the case by hand from her prison cell. Meet Dee Farmer. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/17/f...
- The wall of imprisoned journalists at the offices of @pressfreedom.bsky.social
- Are you someone you love incarcerated (or formerly incarcerated) in BOP and feel some kind of way about this announcement? Are you a BOP employee with feelings about Josh Smith’s appointment? Reach out! Call/text 212-803-5273 or signal beth.93.
- So sad to hear of the passing of Tom Robbins, a fierce investigative watchdog and a gracious, generous mentor to so many. He wrote and reported one of @themarshallproject.org's first major investigations, which led to system-wide changes at Attica prison. www.themarshallproject.org/staff/tom-ro...
- So sad to hear of the passing of Tom Robbins, a fierce investigative watchdog and a gracious, generous mentor to so many. He wrote and reported one of @themarshallproject.org's first major investigations, which led to system-wide changes at Attica prison. www.themarshallproject.org/staff/tom-ro...
- This is Phaedra McLaughlin. In response to a Trump executive order, the Bureau of Prisons housed her in a men's prison. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/02/21/t...
- After more than a year of hormone therapy, refills of Rebecca-James Meskill's medication suddenly stopped. When she asked a prison doctor about it, “he said to take it up with the White House.” www.themarshallproject.org/2025/05/22/t...
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- Earlier this week, a federal judge in New York ruled that she would appoint a “remediation manager” to run the Rikers Island jail, which despite 10 years of court oversight, “remains mired in dysfunction.” nytimes.com/2025/05/13/nyregion…
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- Happy World Press Freedom Day. The only people who deride a free press are people with something to hide.
- TIL
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- Reposted by Beth Schwartzapfel[Not loaded yet]
- I feel like the takeaway here is that a single human being at a single moment in time was wearing jewelry that alone was worth multiple times more than what the average American earns in their entire lifetime. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
- The sandwich from the Portuguese deli in Waltham MA that had a giant pile of diced vegetables marinated in some sort of herbed vinaigrette on a crusty baguette that was..omg. I grabbed that sandwich once while running an errand and have searched high and low for that deli again to no avail.
- National Resource Center aimed at preventing sexual assault in prison loses all of its funding. The center's mission is "no longer aligned with the administration’s priorities," apparently. "Protecting American institutions from toxic DEI," the Trump administration says, is..more important.
- That's the sound of prison officials in Texas running screaming into an emergency meeting.
