Ryan Gabrielson

“But abuse by law enforcement inside jails remains largely out of sight and harder to document.” Phillip Garcia was in psychiatric crisis. In jail and in the hospital, guards responded with violent force and restrained him for almost 20 hours, until he died.

California has set aside $2.1 billion in funding for construction projects to upgrade old jails, some of which have been branded as having “deplorable” conditions. But a majority of the projects have been delayed due to bureaucratic roadblocks and critical errors in planning. Meanwhile design flaws in the aging facilities have been contributing to deaths of inmates.

Law enforcement across the U.S. use $2 kits to test for drug possession while out on the field, despite evidence showing that the tests routinely produce false positives. The effect on the lives of the falsely accused and convicted can be devastating.

An investigation into how authorities’ failure to communicate with each other and properly assess victims and rape kits led Sharper to continue assaulting women.