Kids Imprisoned | Staff photo/multimedia editor

Kids Imprisoned was an eight-month News21 investigation of the juvenile justice system in America. Thirty-five fellows from sixteen universities produced 23 in-depth investigative or explanatory stories and 35 additional reports with supervision from a team of four staff editors. COVID prevented in-person reporting, which led to a complete retooling of visual plans.All visuals and audio for this project were produced using alternative storytelling approaches and virtual engagement.

The project was awarded a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award, first place in the Best in the West competition and was the winner of the Online Journalism Association Student Team Portfolio category. It was also an EPPY award finalist in the College Documentary/Investigation category and an IRE award finalist in the Collegiate Documentary category.

Click the image above to see the entire project and the complete list of fellows and staff.

Portraits by Gabriela Szymanowska. News21 portraits were made using zoom and a video projector. To see the full set of portraits made by News21 photographers Michele Abercrombie, Layne Dowdall, Chloe Jones, Calah Schlabach, Gabriela Szymanowska and James Wooldridge, visit the Kids Imprisoned website.

Animated video reported by Jos Fox and Franco LaTona. Narration by Franco LaTona. Illustrations by Jos Fox. About a quarter of kids who are incarcerated end up in private centers. The companies that own the facilities market them as cheaper, safer and more effective alternatives, but lawsuits and allegations raise questions.

Video directed and produced remotely by James Wooldridge. After 22 years in prison, Josh Cain was released on June 24, 2020. Cain, 40, spent his first weeks of freedom living with his mother and enjoying the company of his brother Trevor, who was released in 2017 after being incarcerated for a related 1998 crime. Cain's support system, he says, is the primary factor to his success.

Video produced by Brody Ford, Chloe Jones and Gabriela Szymanowska. With Alex Lancial. The school-to-prison pipeline has been talked about for decades. Harsher punishments in the name of school safety push kids out of schools and into detention centers and prisons. And, police are only part of the problem.