Code of Silence
Image courtesy of David Schalliol.
Jamie Kalven's four-part, 20,000-word article “Code of Silence” published in late 2016 exposed official indifference to the criminal activities of Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team of corrupt Chicago Police Department officers operating in Ida B. Wells public housing on the South Side of Chicago.
Created for the Better Government Association's 2017 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Awards for Investigative Reporting. First Place - "Code of Silence," Jamie Kalven, Invisible Institute
Since then, Cook County has overturned 169 convictions linked to Watts–the largest mass exonerations in Cook County history. “Code of Silence” also precipitated the firing of Ernest Brown, the former deputy superintendent of CPD from his post as executive director of Homeland Security for Cook County. It has prompted multiple ongoing official investigations, including one by the Department of Justice, into what will almost surely prove to be one of the biggest scandals in CPD history.
The Invisible Institute produced a 40,000-run print edition for free distribution to nearly 400 locations across Chicago, including 60 Chicago Public Libraries.
The map above was updated daily with distribution points, including laundromats, taverns, barber shops, and train stations, in late 2016.
The article received the 2017 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Investigative Reporting (First Place) and the Chicago Headline Club Watchdog Award. At the national level, “Code” received the EPPY Award from Editor and Publisher for the best work of investigative journalism to appear on the Web in 2016 and the Hillman Prize for the best work of social justice reporting published on the Web in 2016.