PHIL HIRSCHKORN CORRECTIONS OFFICER SERIES

In a series of five reports during 2019, with data-driven reporting, WMTW investigated and broke news on a law enforcement problem across Maine (and the United States) -- an endemic shortage in corrections officers in state prisons and county jails. The arc of our reporting began with a discovery while looking into a fatal traffic accident that claimed a young girl's life; it was caused by an overworked corrections officer who had clocked 90 hours a week on the job, 5 double/overtime shifts 5 days a week. How was that permitted or needed? We found out.