For more than a year, reporters at New York Focus and Hell Gate, with support from the Fund, have been reporting on a flood of sexual-abuse lawsuits filed by people held in New York state prisons. The two outlets have filed public-records requests for the personnel records of state prison staff named in the lawsuits and for records of any investigations into the allegations of abuse, but state officials have stonewalled the requests for a year. This month, the outlets filed a lawsuit in state court to force the agency to turn over relevant records.
Grantee sues New York state agency to get records on prison staff accused of sexual assault
