What I Cover
I investigate the criminal legal system. I’m currently covering the Federal Bureau of Prisons as well as capital punishment and incarceration under the Trump administration.
My Background
I have written about the criminal justice system for over a decade. My work has changed laws, overturned policies and won recognition.
In 2024, my story about the Dungeons & Dragons players of Texas death row was named a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing.
Previously, my examination of prison dental care found Texas was systematically denying dentures to toothless inmates. In response to the reporting, state officials changed their practices and began providing dentures to hundreds of prisoners.
Before joining ProPublica in 2025, I worked at the Los Angeles Times, where I uncovered allegations of new deputy gangs operating inside the sheriff’s department. Prior to the Times, I spent six years in Texas covering prisons, first for the Houston Chronicle and then for The Marshall Project.
My work has also aired on the BBC and been published in The New York Times Magazine and The Washington Post Magazine, where my writing about women in jail helped earn the publication a 2020 National Magazine Award for best single-topic issue. More recently, I was a producer on “I Am Ready, Warden,” a short documentary nominated for a 2025 Academy Award.
Beyond criminal justice, I’ve covered wildfires, mermaids, rodeos and hurricanes, and once spent a year buying pills in Mexico to investigate widespread counterfeiting of pharmaceuticals.
I am a former New America fellow and the author of “Corrections in Ink,” a memoir about my time in prison. I am based in Los Angeles.
