Deep South Today, a nonprofit network of newsrooms in Louisiana and Mississippi, is pleased to announce it has received a $300,000 grant from Public Welfare Foundation to expand reporting about the judicial system at Mississippi Today.
“Mississippi Today’s reporting about the state’s criminal justice system has illuminated critical issues, ended abusive conduct and led to important policy reforms,” said Warwick Sabin, President and CEO of Deep South Today. “We are grateful to Public Welfare Foundation for providing the support to continue and expand this important work.”
With this added capacity, Mississippi Today will investigate the conditions of juvenile detention centers in Mississippi. Its journalists also will report holistically on the maze of state courts, prosecutors and systems faced by young people and their families. Mississippi Today’s justice team will explore adult criminal legal data to mine information on the current state of public defense in Mississippi and the outcomes for its clients, as well as unmet needs for right to counsel, parole reforms and solutions to preventing long-term confinement.
“Youth courts and juvenile detention centers deal with complex problems that profoundly affect the lives of families and communities, yet the systems are often shrouded in secrecy. And Mississippi’s public defender system has long been short-staffed and underfunded,” said Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Emily Wagster Pettus. “Investigating these systems is an important public service that our journalists take seriously.”
Mississippi Today will approach these issues with a multifaceted portfolio of reporting, including daily/breaking news stories as well as deeper-dive investigative features, to explore the state’s complicated criminal justice framework and bring much-needed transparency to its processes.
The coverage will prioritize several key components: the development of a database to monitor people who are eligible for parole and their release, alongside an analysis of the taxpayer costs associated with Mississippi’s rising incarceration rates.
Additionally, the project will document effective solutions and success stories within the state’s criminal justice system, highlighting the work of public defenders, youth court administrators, prosecutors and advocates. This work will involve collaborative reporting alongside beat reporters specialized in health, education, government and Jackson-specific issues.
“Mississippi Today’s justice team has shown that rigorous, sustained reporting can change outcomes for vulnerable Mississippians,” said Adam Ganucheau, executive editor and chief content officer at Deep South Today. “This support lets us expand that work at a moment when it’s needed most.”
About Deep South Today
Deep South Today is a nonprofit network of local newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today, Verite News and The Current. Its new Arkansas Today newsroom will launch in fall 2026.
Founded in 2016, Mississippi Today is now the largest newsroom in the state, and in 2023 it won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. Verite News launched in 2022 in New Orleans, where it covers inequities facing communities of color. The Current is a nonprofit news organization founded in 2018 serving Lafayette and southern Louisiana.
With its regional scale and scope, Deep South Today is rebuilding and re-energizing local journalism in communities where it had previously eroded, ensuring its long-term growth and sustainability.
About Public Welfare Foundation
Public Welfare Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking organization focused on catalyzing a transformative approach to justice that is community-led, restorative and racially just through investments in criminal justice and youth justice reforms.
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