Shannon Heffernan
Reporter, Criminal Justice
Her reporting has earned her a Third Coast International Audio Festival Award, a National Murrow Award for best writing and a PRINDI for best writing, as well as awards from the Illinois AP and Chicago Headline Club. She worked on the 16 Shots podcast, which was a Scripps Howard finalist. Her work has been heard on local and national programming, including This American Life.
Shannon also writes short fictional stories and has been published Hobart, The Indiana Review and The Columbia Review, where she won the 2016 prize for fiction.
Stories by Shannon Heffernan
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Lawmakers Are ‘Horrified’ And Calling For Action On Illinois Prison Abuse
Advocates and lawmakers say independent oversight of prisons is needed, after a WBEZ investigation into beatings by guards.
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Prisoners Say Guards Beat Them In An Area Without Cameras. Then Someone Died.
At an Illinois prison, evidence of abuse in a camera blind spot went ignored for years: “Those officers thought … ‘We can completely get away with this.’ ”
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Illinois Prison Guard Pleads Guilty In Prison Beating Death Case
Willie Hedden pleaded guilty to federal charges accusing him and two other officers of beating Larry Earvin while he was handcuffed in May of 2018.
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From Roaches To Medical Emergencies, Illinois Inmates Say ‘There’s Nobody That We Can Really Go To For Help’
Prisoners rely on the so-called grievance system to report dangerous conditions, including abuse. In Illinois, the system is broken.
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Where Does Your Poop Go?
Curious City finds out where your poop goes by taking a journey through the Chicago-area sewer system.
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800 Sickened, 7 Dead: Inmates And Guards Describe Life Inside Cook County Jail
The sprawling facility is battling one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the country. These are first-hand accounts from inside the jail.
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Nurses Warn COVID-19 Cases At Cook County Jail Aren’t Just Staying Behind Bars
Officials say 126 workers and 289 detainees at the jail have confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
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Judge Says Cook County Doesn’t Have To Release Inmates, But Conditions Must Improve
On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the county to take steps to keep the jail sanitary and safe as COVID-19 continues to spread.
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Illinois Officials Say They Reacted Quickly And Aggressively To COVID-19 Threat In Prisons
Civil rights groups are suing to force Illinois to release prisoners. The state says the cases ignore what’s already been done.
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As COVID-19 Spreads, Advocates Sound Alarm For People In Prisons And Communities Around Them
One inmate says the coronavirus is like an “invisible man [that] has the power to kill and nobody can do anything about it.”
