Jail Time Undercover
Reportage
Tags
Description
Reporters have worked as guards or gotten themselves arrested -- sometimes with the aid of authorities and sometimes without -- to investigate conditions inside prisons and jails.
Reporters
- Richard H Stewart
- R. H. Stewart
- Richard H. Stewart
- Charles Howe
- Tim Findley
- Our Correspondent
- Unsigned
- Jim Brewer
- R H Ring
- John S Long
- Pierre Salinger
- Ben H. Bagdikian
- Leon Dash
- Athelia Knight
- William Recktenwald
- Bob Wiedrich
- Mitchell Locin
- Unsigned Article
- WIlliam Recktenwald
- Ted Conover
- Nellie Bly
- Mike Goodman
- Henry Guy Carleton
- Madeleine Zabriskie Doty
- Elizabeth C. Watson
- Shane Bauer
- James West
Media History
The reporting was intended for these media types: Magazine, Newspaper, Book, Television
Additional Resources
Articles, Books, Video/Film
I-"The Convicted: Doing Time" - R.H. Stewart - Boston Globe | The First Day; Dignity Leaves and Fear Arrives
December 27, 1983
Boston Globe reporter Richard Stewart went undercover as a prison inmate and served six days in a Salem jail for a ...II-"Doing Time" - Richard Stewart - Boston Globe | The Cell Block; Life in a Barren 5-by-8 Space
December 28, 1983
Boston Globe reporter Richard Stewart went undercover as a prison inmate and served six days in a Salem jail for a ...III-"Doing Time" - Richard Stewart - Boston Globe | Rules to Learn; Cigarettes are Money
December 29, 1983
Boston Globe reporter Richard Stewart went undercover as a prison inmate and served six days in a Salem jail for a ...IV-"Doing Time" - Richard Stewart - Boston Globe | Jail Boredom Biggest Hassle
December 30, 1983
In the fourth installment of Stewart's "Doing Time" series for the Boston Globe, he describes the challenge of ...V-"Doing Time" - Richard Stewart - Boston Globe | The Final Days in Jail
December 31, 1983
In the final installment of his series "Doing Time" for the Boston Globe, R.H. Stewart describes in detail the group ...VI-"Behind Prison Bars" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle | Cons Get It Together
March 2, 1971
Part six of Findley and Howe's "Behind Prison Bars" series, this article describes how serving time can radicalize ...VIII-"Behind Prison Bars" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle | The Men Without Hope
March 3, 1971
Part of The Chronicle's "Behind Prison Bars" series, this article describes "adjustment centers" (also called "the ...IX-"Behind Prison Bars" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle | Tehachapi -- the 'Good' Bad Place
March 4, 1971
Part of The Chronicle's "Behind Prison Bars" series, this article is a profile of sorts on Tehachapi Prison, a ...XIIA-"Behind Prison Bars" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle | 'The Day We Shook the Yard Down"
March 9, 1971
Part of his undercover assignment as a San Quentin prison guard for the Chronicle's "Behind Prison Bars" series, ...XII-"Behind Prison Bars" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle | San Quentin's Elite Force In Action
March 10, 1971
From the article's editor's note: "For three months, Chronicle reporters Charles Howe and Tim Findley lived in the ...I-"Behind Prison Bars" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle | Reporter's Story: 'I'm in Soledad'; Serving Time with the Cons; 'We're Dead Men Here'
February 22, 1971
Findley's first article about his experiencing living in California's Soledad prison for a week. As the excerpt ...II-"Behind Prison Bars" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle | Cons' Main Street
February 23, 1971
In Findley's second contribution, a collection of anecdotes of day-to-day life on the inside drawn from his stay in ...III-"Behind Prison Bars" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle | Soledad's 'Hole' - A Setting for Death, Revenge
February 24, 1971
The third article in the "Behind Prison Bars" series talks about the history of violence in Soledad Prison's ...IV-"Behind Prison Bars" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle | The Soledad 'Games'
February 25, 1971
In the fourth installment of the "Behind Prison Bars" series, Findley reports about the complicated ...V-Behind Prison Bars: Sex Fear Among the Cons" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle | Behind Prison Bars: Homosexual Attackers
March 1, 1971
This article tells the stories of Davey and Ford, two inmates in California's prison system, and their struggle to ...VA-"Behind Prison Bars: The Prison Clientele is Tougher"
March 1, 1971
An article highlighting the increase of violent offenders in California's corrections system.X-"Behind Prison Bars: Guard Killed By Inmate at Soledad" -Our Correspondent - San Francisco Chronicle | From Our Correspondent
March 5, 1971
This article reports on the death of a prison guard at Folsom Prison. He was stabbed in the neck by an inmate held ...XA-"Behind Prison Bars: The Meanest Con's Death Row Assault" - Unsigned - San Francisco Chronicle
March 5, 1971
This unsigned article reports on an attempted stabbing of a San Quentin guard by notoriously violent Death Row ...XIA-"Behind Prison Bars: Vacaville, The First Stop" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle
March 8, 1971
This article describes what takes place at Vacaville Medical Facility, the first stop for the majority of felons ...XII-"Behind Prison Bars: Why Prisoners Keep Coming Back" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle
March 9, 1971
A second article about Vacaville Medical Facility, the first stop for California convicts, where they undergo ...XIIA-"Behind Prison Bars: Quentin Stabbings - 5 Inmates Hurt" - Unsigned - San Francisco Chronicle
March 10, 1971
An article about a "lockdown" at San Quentin Prison, following a spree a stabbings that left 5 inmates ...XIII-"Behind Prison Bars: Prison Turmoil" - Jim Brewer - San Francisco Chronicle | More Violence At Quentin -- Convict Slain
March 12, 1971
An article about the continued violence at San Quentin Prison, where one person was killed and four others injured ...IA-"Behind Prison Bars: California Penal System - World's 3rd Biggest" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle
February 22, 1971
An overview of the California prison system, which, at the time was the world's 3rd largest after China and the ...XIIIA-"Behind Prison Bars: Loneliness, Unemployment" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle | Problems of Parolees
March 12, 1971
An article drawing attention to the difficulties parolees face after being released from prison, especially in ...VIA-"Behind Prison Bars: Folsom --- Where the 'Elite' Meet" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle
March 2, 1971
This article takes a look at the history of California's Folsom prison, the state's oldest. Despite being considered ...XIV-"Behind Prison Bars: How Experts Want to Change Prisons" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle | Men Who Shouldn't Be There
March 15, 1971
A detailed article exploring what is wrong with California's corrections system and how officials and others ...IXA-"Behind Prison Bars: Women's 'Campus' - Charles Howe -San Francisco Chronicle
March 4, 1971
Howe describes conditions for the 655 women in prison at the California Institute for Women near Chino, the state's ...XI-"Behind Prison Bars: Tough Vigil: I Was a Guard at San Quentin" - Charles Howe - San Francisco Chronicle
March 8, 1971
Howe describes his experience posing as/working as part of this investigation as guard at San Quentin.I-"The Convicted: 'This Ain't That Kind of Prison'" - R.H. Ring - Arizona Daily Star
August 8, 1982
Arizona Daily Star reporter R.H. Ring spent 10 days posing as a maximum-security convict at Arizona's Florence State ...II-"The Convicted: Holding Down The Fort" - John S. Long - Arizona Daily Star
August 8, 1982
Long posed as a corrections officer at Fort Grant Correctional and Training Center for two weeks directly following ...I-"County Jails Exposed -- Story of Cruelty, Filth" - Pierre Salinger - San Francisco Chronicle | Exclusive: Inside California's Jails. Brutality ... Crowded Cells. Chronicle Reporter Does Time: Shocking Account
January 26, 1953
J.D. Salinger's first article for the San Francisco Chronicle about his time spent undercover in 2 California jails.II-"Sordid Life in County Jails Exposed" - Pierre Salinger - San Francisco Chronicle | A Reporter's Inside Story
January 27, 1953
In his second article in his series for the Chronicle, Salinger reports on his first night spent in jail as he ...III-"Ugly Violence Behind Bars" - Pierre Salinger - San Francisco Chronicle | Reporter Tells How Cellmate Blew His Top
January 28, 1953
In the third installment to the California Jails Expose series, Pierre Salinger describes a fight he witnesses while ...IV-"In S.F. Cell at 18, Al Learned Paths of Crime" - Pierre Salinger - San Francisco Chronicle
January 29, 1953
In the fourth installment to the California Jails Expose series, Salinger profiles Al, a young inmate he meets at ...V-"Sex Perverts, Extortionists Run the Cells" - Pierre Salinger - San Francisco Chronicle
January 30, 1953
In the fifth installment to the California Jails Expose series, Salinger describes instances of extortion that are ...VI-"Alcoholic as 'Tank Judge'" - Pierre Salinger - San Francisco Chronicle | Reporter 'Does Time' at Bakersfield, Again Finds Bad Food, Overcrowding
February 1, 1953
In the sixth installment to the California Jails Expose series, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Pierre Salinger ...VII-"A Brutal Beating In the Kern Jail" - Pierre Salinger - San Francisco Chronicle | In the Pre-Dawn, a Man is Marked Up for Life
February 3, 1953
In the seventh and final installment to the California Jails Expose series, Chronicle reporter Pierre Salinger ...I-"A Human Wasteland In the Name of Justice" - Ben Bagdikian - Washington Post
January 29, 1972
The first article in the Shame of Prisons series is an overview if the major challenges and shortcomings of the ...II-"No. 50061, Inside Maximum Security" - Ben Bagdikian - Washington Post | Six Days in State Prison Through The Eyes of a 'Murderer'
January 30, 1972
Bagdikian goes undercover as an inmate in central Pennsylvania for six days, after three months of reporting on the ...III-""Bureaucratic Overload Turns Justice to Misery" - Ben Bagdikian - Washington Post
February 1, 1972
The third article in the Shame of Prisons series examines the conditions of jails for those who can't post bail and ...IV-"Female Homosexuality Prevalent" - Ben Bagdikian - Washington Post
February 2, 1972
An article focusing on the condition of American Women's prisons and reformatories. The article covers the subject ...V-"Juvenile Prison: Society's Stigma" - Ben Bagdikian - Washington Post
February 3, 1972
An article about the conditions of the juvenile prison system in the US, focusing on different theories of reform.VI-"Rehabilitation: A Frayed Hope" - Leon Dash - Washington Post
February 4, 1972
An article outlining and examining the effectiveness of various rehabilitation methods for prisoners in the District ...VII-"The Drive for Inmates' Rights" - Ben Bagdikian - Washington Post
February 5, 1972
Looks at the then growing number of civil suits against prison administrators, and the conditions allegedly causing ...VIII-"An Agenda for Reform of a Hell Behind Walls" - Ben Bagdikian - Washington Post
February 6, 1972
Ben H. Bagdikian's personal assessment of DC's corrections department, written at the conclusion of his series on ...I-"Drug Smuggling and Hot Goods: A Ride on Prison Visitors’ Buses" - Athelia Knight - Washington Post
March 4, 1984
The first in a four-part series on how drugs were smuggled in to Lorton ReformatoryII-"Visitors Make Drug Deliveries to Inmates" - Athelia Knight - Washington Post
March 5, 1984
The second in the series of articles on drug smuggling into Lorton Reformatory.III-"Threat of Violence Haunts Drivers" - Athelia Knight - Washington Post
March 6, 1984
The third article in the Lorton series examines the double lives and dangerous competition between the shuttle bus ...IV-"Officials Differ on Depth of Prison Drug Problem" - Athelia Knight - Washington Post
March 7, 1984
Judges and corrections officials disagree on the severity of the drug problem at Lorton in the conclusion to the ...I-Pontiac - "I Was a Guard in Pontiac Prison" - William Recktenwald - Chicago Tribune
October 29, 1978
Reporter William Recktenwald went undercover to Pontiac state prison to review its conditions.II-Pontiac - "How Tribune Investigator Was Hired" - William Recktenwald - Chicago Tribune
October 29, 1978
Wiliam Recktenwald explains how he got hired at Pontiac prison.III-Pontiac - "Working the Cells Where Three Died" - William Recktenwald - Chicago Tribune
October 30, 1978
Reporter William Recktenwald went undercover to Pontiac state prison to review the conditions.Follow-up: Pontiac- "Special Committee Assembly Leaders Act to Probe Prisons" - Bob Wiedrich - Chicago Tribune
November 5, 1978Follow-up: Pontiac-"Asked $500,000 for Prosecuting Prison Rioters" - William Recktenwald - Chicago Tribune
November 26, 1978Follow-up: Pontiac-"One Visitor's Return" - William Recktenwald - Chicago Tribune
July 2, 1979IV-Pontiac-"Just Keep 'Em Locked Up, That's All" - William Recktenwald - Chicago Tribune
October 31, 1978
Reporter William Recktenwald went undercover to Pontiac state prison to review the conditions.IVA-Reaction: Pontiac - "Pontiac Disclosures No Shock-Thompson" - Mitchell Locin - Chicago Tribune
October 31, 1978V-Pontiac-"New Pontiac Warden Moves to End Deadlock" - William Recktenwald - Chicago Tribune
November 1, 1978
Reporter William Recktenwald went undercover to Pontiac state prison to review the conditions.VA-Pontiac-"How He Read Prison Story" - Unsigned - Chicago Tribune
November 1, 1978VB-Pontiac "Judge to Rule Friday on Suit to End Lockup" - Unsigned - Chicago Tribune
November 1, 1978VC-Pontiac-"Charles Rowe's Sudden Discovery" - Bob Wiedrich - Chicago Tribune
November 1, 1978VI-Pontiac-"Prisoners Get Exercise; Pontiac Deadlock Ending" - Bob Wiedrich - Chicago Tribune
November 2, 1978I-"Prison Guard" - William Recktenwald - Evening Independent | Three Months After The Riot, Pontiac Prison is Still a Living Hell For Everyone In It...
November 14, 1978
The Evening Independent published three articles based on or from Recktenwald's undercover series from the Tribune ...III-"Filth and Waste" - William Recktenwald - Evening independent | Inside Pontiac Prison, Some Different Crimes are Committed
November 16, 1978
The third of three articles based on the Tribune undercover series at Pontiac prison, published in the Evening ...II-"The Riot - William Recktenwald - Evening Independent | In the Dim Light of North Cell House are Reminders of Death and Destruction
November 15, 1978
The second of three articles from the Tribune published in the Independent, based on Recktenwald's undercover time ...Ted Conover's "NewJack: Guarding Sing-Sing"
2000"Guarding Sing Sing" - Ted Conover - The New Yorker | A Firsthand Account of theDysfunctional Relationship Between Guards and Inmates
April 3, 2000
Excerpted from Ted Conover's "Newjack," recounting his experiences working as a corrections officer at Sing-Sing."Nellie Bly a Prisoner" - Nellie Bly - New York World | "She Has Herself Arrested to Gain Entrance to a Station-House"
February 24, 1889
Bly gets herself arrested to experience life for a woman in jail.1969 People's Park Demonstration and Arrests -"Inside Santa Rita: I was a UC Prisoner" - Tim Findley - San Francisco Chronicle
May 24, 1969
Findley covered the 1969 "Battle of Berkeley," the People's Park demonstrations, and ended up at Santa Rita with ...“Juvenile Hall: Powder Keg of Rage, Racism" - Mike Goodman - Los Angeles Times | Youths Subjected to Sexual Degradation, Beatings and Rat-Pack Struggle to Survive
May 17, 1974
Abstract: "Central Juvenile Hall. The county's sometime home--the nation's largest--for 500 to 600 boys and girls ..."Life at Sing Sing" - Henry Guy Carleton - New York World | Behind the Bars in the State's Great Prison; Detailed Story of the Inside Workings of the Institution; The Dark Cell Described and the Weighing Machine Pictured; Some of the Once Prominent Men Who Are Temporarily Sojourning There; How Warden Brush and Principal Keeper Comnoughton Rule the Unruly; Punishment Tempered with Mercy; Good Food and Frequent Baths; Compulsory Eduation; Tobacco in the Cells; Most of the Inmates Once Went to Sunday School; Moral Training; What Hard Labor Means; Distinguished Prisoners; Ferdinand Ward; Jachnee; Buddensiek and Others; Modern Theories of Prison Discipline; Horror of the Slow-Passing Days; aD and
October 23, 1887
Reporter's lengthy narrative of his two days in prison."Maggie Martin, 933" - Madeleine Zabriskie Doty - The Century | A Woman's Voluntary Week in Prison
October 1, 1914
"Miss Madeleine Z. Doty [member of the commission on prison reform] and Miss Elizabeth C. Watson spent a week last ..."Life in the Ludlow Street Jail" - Unsigned - New York Tribune | A Voluntary Incarceration. Warden Tracey's Hotel. A Public Prison Run as a Private Boarding-House. Mr. Tracey's Menu. Money the Key to the Cell Door. Imprisonment for Debt. Innocent Men in Prison. Malice as a Jailer. The Squeezing System. The Miseries of Detained Witnesses. The Agonies of Confinement.
May 30, 1871
A reporter goes undercover in the oh-so-posh but oh-so-corrupt Ludlow Street Jail of 1871."My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard" - Shane Bauer - Mother Jones
June 24, 2016
Shane Bauer, with videography by James West, takes a job as a prison guard at the Winn Correctional Center in ...