Think Out Loud

OPB and the Northwest News Network spent a year documenting the rising death toll inside county jails across Oregon and Washington. The findings of that investigation have been staggering: More than 300 people died in the past decade, jails are struggling to keep suicidal inmates safe and death rates are on the rise even as communities try to slow mass incarceration. In this audio documentary, public media journalists Conrad Wilson and Austin Jenkins compile the best of their reporting and tell new stories that reveal who is dying in jail, why they’re dying and who is being held responsible.