Wilson Criscione

Investigate West is kind of like ProPublica, but focusing on the PNW.

Outstanding reporting here re multiple credible allegations and lawsuits against Dr. Geoffrey Stiller, who used to be at the forefront of gender affirmation surgery.

Trans people, like everyone, deserve safe medical care.

WA lawmaker backed cuts to legal aid for people like herself After being fired from the legal aid group she once led, Rep. Tarra Simmons supported state cuts that crippled similar organizations

Rep. Tarra Simmons, the first formerly incarcerated lawmaker in WA, had her convictions vacated in 2023 and said it felt like being freed from an "invisible prison."

This year, emails show, she supported cuts to legal aid groups that help others do the same. www.investigatewest.org/make-it-make...

In the state that incarcerates women at the nation's highest rate, @wilsonc.bsky.social and I uncovered rampant sexual abuse by Idaho women's prison guards. After a year of reporting, we published 6 stories examining the system that failed to protect them. 🧵 1/

Grantees @wbryen.bsky.social & @wilsonc.bsky.social investigated sexual assault reports made by 25 women against more than 40 prison guards and revealed how the Idaho Department of Corrections systematically tolerates the sexual abuse of inmates. @investigatewest.bsky.social

👉 bit.ly/47W9JAz

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39 people died in WA prisons last year, a number that rose during the pandemic. At least three other prisoners died of infections during FY 2024, one of whom was 45 years old. Read this story by @brandonblock.bsky.social - www.investigatewest.org/how-a-wa-pri...

Investigations team caps four years with state law, policy reforms From youth labor violations to housing abuses to pandemic aid fraud, Cascade PBS investigative reporters cast light into undercovered corners of WA in 2025.

From youth labor violations to housing abuses to pandemic aid fraud, Cascade PBS investigative reporters cast light into undercovered corners of Washington. Our final Impact Report and a thread of some of the team's best work: www.cascadepbs.org/impact-repor...

"For the next five minutes, the woman listened as four men — a prosecutor, defense attorney, judge and police detective — debated what, exactly, Rogers meant by vagina."

Hard to say what's the most shocking part of this @investigatewest.bsky.social series. But this courtroom dialogue is up there.

The Idaho Department of Correction issued a news release in response to our Guarded by Predators series. It repeats agency policies but does not dispute our findings.

Guarded by Predators A new series by InvestigateWest exposing rape and abuse by Idaho’s prison guards and the system that shields them.

Highly recommend this series by my colleagues Whitney Bryen & @wilsonc.bsky.social They spent a year interviewing women who were sexually abused by prison guards & staff in Idaho, digging through court recordings, and public records and it SHOWS in this work.

In Idaho women’s prisons, guards get away with sexual abuse and victims are blamed – RANGE Media A yearlong investigation finds rampant sexual abuse by guards, systemic cover-ups, and punishment for victims

A year of reporting by INVW has uncovered the unjust reality for the roughly 1,300 women currently in Idaho prisons: Once behind bars, they’re kept there by mostly male guards who can harass, grope, and sexually assault them with confidence that it will be kept quiet.

In Idaho prisons, abuse by guards is rarely investigated Audio recordings and records obtained by InvestigateWest reveal sloppy investigations, omitted evidence and questions about whether cases were properly pursued

In today's story:
-State police told a guard accused of rape that they're more interested in going after women for false reporting.
-Those detectives wrote, falsely, that a woman said "no" when asked if she had sexual contact prison staff. She said yes. www.investigatewest.org/case-closed-...

Day 2 story: bsky.app/profile/wils...

Damn, what a story.

This series on rape and sexual abuse by Idaho prison workers has some chilling, enraging and tender writing and reporting throughout - and exposes the ways our system continually lets alleged perpetrators off the hook. Please give it a read:

In Idaho women’s prisons, guards get away with sex abuse A yearlong investigation finds rampant sexual abuse by guards, systemic cover-ups, and punishment for victims

Idaho incarcerates women more often than any other state.

Once thrown behind bars, many of those women are sexually abused by guards shielded from consequences — while victims are blamed.

Read the latest in our "Guarded by Predators" series www.investigatewest.org/in-idaho-wom...

An Idaho prison guard preyed on women. The system hid it This is the first installment in a new InvestigateWest series called “Guarded by Predators,” exposing rape and abuse by Idaho’s prison guards and the system that shields them

Only one of those guards charged criminally ended up being sentenced to prison.

But that case — a guard who raped an inmate after driving her to a medical appointment — has been kept hidden from the public for five years, until now. www.investigatewest.org/the-idaho-pr...

Staff sex abuse in Idaho women’s prisons largely unchecked InvestigateWest reporting exposes sexual abuse by guards, retaliation against victims and a system that fails to track the scope of the problem

More than two dozen women incarcerated in an Idaho prison told us they were sexually abused by staff.

And we identified 37 prison workers accused of sexual misconduct toward imprisoned women in the last 10 years. Most resigned or faced few consequences. www.investigatewest.org/staff-sexual...

Just under a year ago, my colleague Whitney Bryen and I began hearing about women in Idaho prisons being sexually abused by staff. We investigated — and what we've found since has shocked us.

Today, the first two stories in our 6(!)-part series were published.

Staff sex abuse in Idaho women’s prisons largely unchecked InvestigateWest reporting exposes sexual abuse by guards, retaliation against victims and a system that fails to track the scope of the problem

Our investigation has found:
-At least 59 documented allegations of staff sexually abusing imprisoned women since 2020. It's an undercount.
-37 prison workers accused in the last decade
-Of those, 18 were guards who resigned. 8 were fired.
www.investigatewest.org/staff-sexual...

An Idaho prison guard preyed on women. The system hid it This is the first installment in a new InvestigateWest series called “Guarded by Predators,” exposing rape and abuse by Idaho’s prison guards and the system that shields them

In the first story, @wilsonc.bsky.social and Whitney Bryen look at the only women's prison guard sentenced to prison for sexual misconduct in the last decade. He served a nine-month alternative sentence. www.investigatewest.org/the-idaho-pr...

How Oregon let a wood treater pollute a town's water source Nearby tribe calls on state, federal agencies to end a “decade-long pattern of reckless violations”

Heavy-hitting story from Kaylee Tornay and Aspen Ford: How Oregon let a wood treater pollute a town's water source
www.investigatewest.org/oregon-wood-...

A beloved Mercer Island teacher was accused twice of sexual misconduct with students. The school district kept it quiet. Gary "Chris" Twombley was put on administrative leave in December 2023

New story, reported with with the Mercer Island Reporter, about how the school district kept allegations of sexual misconduct by a teacher quiet for years. www.investigatewest.org/a-beloved-me...

In wildfire-prone Washington, ‘collaboration’ on forest management gives way to timber interests Forest collaboratives formed in the wake of the Pacific Northwest’s “Timber Wars” have become major power players operating largely out of the public eye

Our reporter Moe Clark digs into forest management in Washington and the influential "collaboratives" that critics say are too aligned with timber interests: www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

Spokane hospital where 12-year-old died endangered other suicidal patients, investigators find State health records show repeated safety violations at Providence Sacred Heart hospital

Good journalism matters: The state investigated Providence Sacred Heart only because they read reporting from InvestigateWest about a 12-year-old's death. Officials quickly found deeper issues with the hospital failing to properly screen patients. www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

“Existing data shows Native Americans face the highest risk of deadly police violence in the United States — between three to five times the rate that others face. And that data is likely an undercount of the true figures”

Two killings, no explanation: Families left reeling after Bureau of Indian Affairs shootings Lack of transparency in BIA police killings leave families searching for answers

In 2020, Bureau of Indian Affairs police shot and killed Kirby Paradise. There was no media coverage or public acknowledgement from BIA.

Four years later, the BIA killed his cousin, Cody Whiterock, in Idaho.

Reporter Melanie Henshaw with the story:
www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

WA health department investigating Spokane hospital after girl’s suicide sparked public outcry State regulatory officials, elected leaders learned of tragedy from InvestigateWest report

Washington state health officials — after reading @investigatewest.bsky.social's reporting — launched an investigation into a 12-year-old’s suicide at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

Idaho’s Owyhee County joins ICE agreement to enforce immigration law ICE's 287(g) agreements — ended under the Obama administration following abuses like racial profiling of Latinos — are back

“If this is happening, I would be hesitant to report a crime myself:" Idaho’s Owyhee County joins ICE agreement to enforce immigration law (for @investigatewest.bsky.social)

Nurses in the youth psych unit were concerned with Providence's decision to close it because they feared exactly this.

"We said this was going to happen," one former nurse in that unit says.