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Joaquin Sapien
Joaquin Sapien is a reporter at ProPublica covering criminal justice and social services.
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Joaquin Sapien was one of the first reporters hired at ProPublica in its first year of publishing in 2008. Since then, his journalism has explored a broad range of topics, including criminal justice, social services, and the environment. In 2019, he was a co-producer and correspondent for “Right to Fail,” a film for the PBS documentary series Frontline. The film was based on his 2018 examination of a flawed housing program for New Yorkers with mental illness, which appeared in the New York Times. The story immediately prompted a federal judge to order an independent investigation into the program. It won a Deadline Club Award and a Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability.
In 2015, Sapien wrote about care for troubled children, beginning with a story in the California Sunday Magazine on a group home that descended into chaos. His work helped an abused boy receive a $12 million jury award and led to the closure of another embattled home in Long Beach.
Past areas of focus include New York City Family Court, prosecutorial misconduct, traumatic brain injury, natural gas drilling, and contaminated drywall used to rebuild after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Sapien’s work has earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists, and Investigative Reporters and Editors. He was a four-time finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. Before joining ProPublica, Sapien was a reporter at the Center for Public Integrity.
Documents Tie German Company to Chinese Subsidiary That Produced Defective Drywall
Documents tie a German company to a Chinese subsidiary that produced defective drywall, but family-owned Knauf Gips says it’s not legally responsible for the millions of pounds of defective drywall that was used to build U.S. homes.
by Joaquin Sapien and Christian Salewski,
Lowe's Drywall Settlement Continues to Be Scrutinized; Attorneys Defend Fees
Consumer advocates say the victims of tainted drywall are getting the short end of a class action settlement with Lowe's. Plaintiffs' attorneys say their $2.1 million cut of the deal is appropriate.
by Joaquin Sapien,
Proposed Lowe's Drywall Settlement Offers Small Payouts to Victims, Big Fees for Attorneys
A class-action agreement over tainted drywall could pay off plaintiffs with Lowe's gift cards. Lawyers in another large drywall case have attacked the settlement.
by Joaquin Sapien,
Information From Gas-Drilling Companies Isn't Coming Easily, Congressmen Say
A congressional committee has been trying – without success -- to get some answers from gas companies involved in hydraulic fracturing. The quest for information shows how responsibility for drilling operations can be diffused among a variety of contractors.
by Joaquin Sapien,
Habitat for Humanity to Look at Drywall
Habitat for Humanity International has established an internal task force to research defective Chinese drywall after ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that a New Orleans branch of the non-profit built more than 200 homes with the drywall and then ignored homeowners’ complaints about it.
by Joaquin Sapien,
Is Chinese Drywall Making Habitat for Humanity's Houses Uninhabitable?
For more than a year, the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity has insisted there were no defects in the Chinese drywall it used to build nearly 200 houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina. But a house-by-house canvas by reporters from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and ProPublica found several homeowners who reported serious problems.
by Joaquin Sapien,
More Companies Knew About Tainted Drywall but Stayed Quiet -- and Kept Selling It
At least a half-dozen homebuilders, installers and environmental consultants knew as early as 2006 that foul smells were coming from drywall imported from China – but they didn’t share their early concerns with the public, even when homeowners began complaining about the drywall in 2008.
by Joaquin Sapien,
Documents Unsealed in Chinese Drywall Lawsuit
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. LTD, a major Chinese drywall manufacturer, urged one of its main U.S. customers, Banner Supply, to sell thousands of sheets of foul-smelling drywall "overseas" after Banner complained about the tainted product, according to documents and depositions unsealed Friday by a Florida circuit court judge in Miami-Dade County. A Banner executive said the offer was refused.
by Joaquin Sapien,