Guardians ad litem hold significant weight in child custody cases. But a @kelseyturner.bsky.social investigation of Washington cases found that when they conduct biased investigations or produce shoddy reports, discipline rarely extends beyond a reprimand. www.investigatewest.org/washington-c...

ICE detained Wilfredo Castillo at what he thought was a routine appointment for his asylum case, saying he missed check-ins on an app. He spent 11 months at a detention center, where he was stabbed. Don't miss the latest from @rachelspacek.bsky.social www.investigatewest.org/i-was-trying...

Come join this free event! I'll be sharing how we used police employment and misconduct data in our recent investigation of Idaho prisons.

Idaho Lawmakers are advancing legislation meant to close a gap in state law that makes it difficult to hold correctional officers accountable for sexually abusing inmates. The bill sponsor said the effort was inspired by our reporting. www.investigatewest.org/idaho-lawmak...

NEW: After @investigatewest.bsky.social used records from the IDOC & POST Council to report on sexual abuse in Idaho prisons, and @invisible.institute published police employment history data in the state, authorities are now changing policies to conceal both sources of information from the public.

Our reporting on Idaho prisons used public records to identify dozens of guards who resigned after misconduct — and it was met by calls for transparency from the governor. Instead, the state decided those records are no longer public. W/@invisible.institute: www.investigatewest.org/idaho-record...

In 2023, SpaceX safety managers internally expressed concern that a new Starlink lab in Redmond didn't have proper ventilation. Customer support workers next door, given no PPE, then reported symptoms of chemical exposure, including a miscarriage.

Investigate West is kind of like ProPublica, but focusing on the PNW. Outstanding reporting here re multiple credible allegations and lawsuits against Dr. Geoffrey Stiller, who used to be at the forefront of gender affirmation surgery. Trans people, like everyone, deserve safe medical care.

Rep. Tarra Simmons, the first formerly incarcerated lawmaker in WA, had her convictions vacated in 2023 and said it felt like being freed from an "invisible prison." This year, emails show, she supported cuts to legal aid groups that help others do the same. www.investigatewest.org/make-it-make...

In the state that incarcerates women at the nation's highest rate, @wilsonc.bsky.social and I uncovered rampant sexual abuse by Idaho women's prison guards. After a year of reporting, we published 6 stories examining the system that failed to protect them. 🧵 1/

Grantees @wbryen.bsky.social & @wilsonc.bsky.social investigated sexual assault reports made by 25 women against more than 40 prison guards and revealed how the Idaho Department of Corrections systematically tolerates the sexual abuse of inmates. @investigatewest.bsky.social 👉 bit.ly/47W9JAz

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39 people died in WA prisons last year, a number that rose during the pandemic. At least three other prisoners died of infections during FY 2024, one of whom was 45 years old. Read this story by @brandonblock.bsky.social - www.investigatewest.org/how-a-wa-pri...

From youth labor violations to housing abuses to pandemic aid fraud, Cascade PBS investigative reporters cast light into undercovered corners of Washington. Our final Impact Report and a thread of some of the team's best work: www.cascadepbs.org/impact-repor...

"For the next five minutes, the woman listened as four men — a prosecutor, defense attorney, judge and police detective — debated what, exactly, Rogers meant by vagina." Hard to say what's the most shocking part of this @investigatewest.bsky.social series. But this courtroom dialogue is up there.

The Idaho Department of Correction issued a news release in response to our Guarded by Predators series. It repeats agency policies but does not dispute our findings.

Highly recommend this series by my colleagues Whitney Bryen & @wilsonc.bsky.social They spent a year interviewing women who were sexually abused by prison guards & staff in Idaho, digging through court recordings, and public records and it SHOWS in this work.

A year of reporting by INVW has uncovered the unjust reality for the roughly 1,300 women currently in Idaho prisons: Once behind bars, they’re kept there by mostly male guards who can harass, grope, and sexually assault them with confidence that it will be kept quiet.

Damn, what a story.

This series on rape and sexual abuse by Idaho prison workers has some chilling, enraging and tender writing and reporting throughout - and exposes the ways our system continually lets alleged perpetrators off the hook. Please give it a read:

Idaho incarcerates women more often than any other state. Once thrown behind bars, many of those women are sexually abused by guards shielded from consequences — while victims are blamed. Read the latest in our "Guarded by Predators" series www.investigatewest.org/in-idaho-wom...

Just under a year ago, my colleague Whitney Bryen and I began hearing about women in Idaho prisons being sexually abused by staff. We investigated — and what we've found since has shocked us. Today, the first two stories in our 6(!)-part series were published.

Our investigation has found: -At least 59 documented allegations of staff sexually abusing imprisoned women since 2020. It's an undercount. -37 prison workers accused in the last decade -Of those, 18 were guards who resigned. 8 were fired. www.investigatewest.org/staff-sexual...

In the first story, @wilsonc.bsky.social and Whitney Bryen look at the only women's prison guard sentenced to prison for sexual misconduct in the last decade. He served a nine-month alternative sentence. www.investigatewest.org/the-idaho-pr...

Heavy-hitting story from Kaylee Tornay and Aspen Ford: How Oregon let a wood treater pollute a town's water source www.investigatewest.org/oregon-wood-...

New story, reported with with the Mercer Island Reporter, about how the school district kept allegations of sexual misconduct by a teacher quiet for years. www.investigatewest.org/a-beloved-me...

Our reporter Moe Clark digs into forest management in Washington and the influential "collaboratives" that critics say are too aligned with timber interests: www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

Good journalism matters: The state investigated Providence Sacred Heart only because they read reporting from InvestigateWest about a 12-year-old's death. Officials quickly found deeper issues with the hospital failing to properly screen patients. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

“Existing data shows Native Americans face the highest risk of deadly police violence in the United States — between three to five times the rate that others face. And that data is likely an undercount of the true figures”

In 2020, Bureau of Indian Affairs police shot and killed Kirby Paradise. There was no media coverage or public acknowledgement from BIA. Four years later, the BIA killed his cousin, Cody Whiterock, in Idaho. Reporter Melanie Henshaw with the story: www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

Washington state health officials — after reading @investigatewest.bsky.social's reporting — launched an investigation into a 12-year-old’s suicide at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

“If this is happening, I would be hesitant to report a crime myself:" Idaho’s Owyhee County joins ICE agreement to enforce immigration law (for @investigatewest.bsky.social)

Nurses in the youth psych unit were concerned with Providence's decision to close it because they feared exactly this. "We said this was going to happen," one former nurse in that unit says.

Very honored to be a Livingston finalist with @kelseyturner.bsky.social!

Tragic, must-read story from Whitney Bryen and Kaylee Tornay: A 12-year-old girl died by suicide after workers say she was left unsupervised at Spokane's Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center — months after the hospital's closure of its youth psych unit. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

Don't miss the latest from @kelseyturner.bsky.social www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

"We have lots of work for you guys." Emails obtained by @rachelspacek.bsky.social show how Kootenai County deputies have been coordinating with feds on immigration enforcement. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

Oregon has spent $46 million fighting black market cannabis in the last seven years. Is it working? Well, nobody seems to know, including the state agency managing the funding. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

We're looking for another editor! This is a great opportunity to join a growing team of journalists doing ambitious work. t.co/wtFy0TTONb

Our latest story, co-published by Mother Jones, about a Seattle suburb that banned a woman from contacting the city because she'd been demanding answers to her unsolved rape case. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

In 2019, there were widespread calls for change in response to @investigatewest.bsky.social finding that the Washington State Patrol searched Native American drivers at a rate 5x higher than whites. But little has changed since then, our new analysis shows. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

A port contractor in Coos Bay, OR praised Hitler and is involved with White Lives Matter, @investigatewest.bsky.social has confirmed after reviewing secret recordings and other records. But the Port of Coos Bay says it can't just cut off ties without potentially violating his free speech rights.

Reposting a few of my favorite stories I was involved with from the past few years. This story, by @wilsonc.bsky.social, was for @investigatewest.bsky.social and picked up by @theguardian.com. I still see Chris from time to time on the streets of Spokane.

Washington and Oregon now have both identified humans infected with bird flu. Idaho has more cases among livestock than either state. But none of the states are following CDC guidance to test people exposed to the virus, @investigatewest.bsky.social's Rachel Spacek reports: t.co/UqmpbO7BQJ

An Idaho victims assistance agency defunded a nonprofit, believing the executive director was the whistleblower behind a series of stories we published in July. Now the state is being sued for it. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

Law enforcement and prosecutors know that kids are openly trafficked online and on the streets of Seattle and Portland. So where are the convictions for sex trafficking? InvestigateWest's Kelsey Turner dug into it. www.invw.org/2023/11/30/t...

Cornerstone Cottage in Post Falls says it’s a “trauma-informed,” “secure” and “culturally sensitive” facility for girls. In reality, girls there have been raped, attacked and called racial slurs. And Idaho state regulators haven’t stopped it. www.invw.org/2023/10/01/r...

For years, teachers at Tahoma School District tried to warn administrators that a paraeducator now charged with child rape was grooming young boys. Emails and public records obtained by InvestigateWest reveal how those concerns were dismissed. https://t.co/vFk9CzJXon

How a new Idaho superintendent is tapping far-right connections to refashion a school district https://www.invw.org/2023/07/26/how-a-new-idaho-superintendent-is-tapping-far-right-connections-to-refashion-a-school-district/