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Alysia Santo is a staff writer. She has investigated criminal justice issues including for-profit prisoner transportation, the bail industry, victim compensation and the sexual abuse of people behind bars. Her reporting has spurred state and federal investigations, and was awarded Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2021. She is also a three-time finalist for the Livingston Award and was twice named runner-up for the John Jay College/H.F. Guggenheim Prize for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting.
Phone 212-803-5260
Email asanto@themarshallproject.org
Twitter @alysiasanto
An illustration shows a correctional officer in uniform standing among four cardboard cutouts of correctional officers. A sketch of a prison is visible in the background.
News November 15, 2022
Mississippi Auditor: Prison Company Must Pay $2 Million for No-Show Workers
A 2020 investigation by The Marshall Project exposed how prison operator MTC billed the state millions for ghost workers.
By Joseph Neff and Alysia Santo
Feature August 19, 2021
Where Lots of Police Shootings Draw Little Scrutiny
The Kentucky State Police fatally shot 41 people from 2015 through 2020, more than any other law enforcement agency in the state.
By Alysia Santo and R. G. Dunlop
Feature August 13, 2021
“Shooting First and Asking Questions Later”
In rural communities, fatal police shootings have occurred at high rates, without the attention (and protests) that urban shootings have drawn.
By Alysia Santo and R.G. Dunlop
An illustration shows a correctional officer in uniform standing among four cardboard cutouts of correctional officers. A sketch of a prison is visible in the background.
Feature December 9, 2020
No-Show Prison Workers Cost Mississippi Taxpayers Millions
Prisoners, guards face danger from chronic understaffing by MTC
By Alysia Santo and Joseph Neff
A woman leaves flowers at the site where George Floyd died May 25 while in police custody, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
News June 4, 2020
As George Floyd Died, Officer Wondered About “Excited Delirium”
Now experts say the controversial diagnosis may become part of the police defense.
By Alysia Santo
A robot emits high-intensity ultraviolet light in a booking room at the Kent County Jail in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Coronavirus May 13, 2020
Jails Turn to UVC Robots To Fight Coronavirus
Some sheriffs are buying ultraviolet light machines traditionally used by hospitals.
By Alysia Santo
Pregnant and post-partum mothers from the film ‘Tutwiler’ share photos of their children with each other at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama.
Feature May 6, 2020
The Separation
Introducing “Tutwiler,” a new Marshall Project/Frontline documentary about women in an Alabama prison who support each other through pregnancy, labor and saying goodbye to their newborns.
Directed by Elaine Mcmillion Sheldon. Produced and Reported by Alysia Santo.
Feature February 20, 2020
Mississippi Prisons: No One’s Safe, Not Even the Guards
Too many prisoners, too few officers leads to violence.
By Alysia Santo and Joseph Neff
Three out of five prisoners who were stabbed or beaten to death last week in Mississippi prisons were at the State Penitentiary in Parchman.
News January 8, 2020
Mississippi Prison Killings: Five Factors Behind the Deadly Violence
Understaffing, powerful gangs and constant lockdowns brew tensions that exploded last week.
By Joseph Neff and Alysia Santo
News October 21, 2019
'Tutwiler' Reveals the Heartbreak of Pregnancy in Prison
A new documentary from The Marshall Project and Frontline (PBS) offers a rare look at the lives of expectant mothers inside a notorious women’s prison.
By Alysia Santo and Elaine Mcmillion Sheldon
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