This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters. The Trump administration has characterized immigration enforcement as a pu... See more
Editor’s note: Last month, we published Sixteen Minutes in a Burning Cell , which investigated the immediate causes of Martinez Duncan’s November 2025 death in Cook County Jail. Martinez was kept in a burning cell for sixteen minutes while officers issued... See more
Illinois lawmakers are calling for changes at the Joliet Treatment Center, after a Marshall Project, Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ investigation exposed an epidemic of fires that resulted in two deaths at the prison. In the last three years, there have been ... See more
Around 10 p.m., a haze of gray smoke wafted down a hallway lined with prison cells at the Joliet Treatment Center. The window of cell A9 began to glow red as the fire within grew. Jason Stephens was locked inside. Minutes ticked by, and the smoke became s... See more
Kheilin Valero Marcano, Stiven Arrieta Prieto and their 1-year-old daughter, Amalia, felt overjoyed when, in early February, they were allowed to leave the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. But after spending about two months locked in the prison-like... See more
