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.
After Years in Institutions, a Road Home Paved With Hunger, Violence and Death
A housing ruling gave Nestor Bunch independence, with limited support. Was he ready?
by Joaquin Sapien,
Judge Calls for Examination of Quality Controls in New York Supported Housing System
The day ProPublica and Frontline reported how people with mental illness are slipping through the cracks, federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis questioned state officials, suggested more help and requested a report on oversight.
by Joaquin Sapien,
Living Apart, Coming Undone
Under a landmark settlement, an ambitious housing program promised a better life for mentally ill New Yorkers. But some of the most vulnerable slip through the cracks.
by Joaquin Sapien, ProPublica, and Tom Jennings for Frontline,
Bill Proposes Greater Accountability for New York Prosecutors Who Break the Law
With his signature, Gov. Andrew Cuomo could create an independent state commission to investigate and sanction prosecutors who withhold evidence or commit other abuses.
by Joaquin Sapien,
The Breakthrough: A Reporter Goes to Ground Zero for Today’s American HIV Epidemic
Linda Villarosa had spent decades covering the spread of AIDS. She thought she was done. Then, she visited Jackson, Mississippi.
by Joaquin Sapien,
The Breakthrough: How a Reporter Uncovered Widespread Russian Meddling — In the Olympics
New York Times reporter Rebecca Ruiz scored a confession from a Russian doctor at the center of a doping scandal that spoiled the 2014 Winter Games.
by Joaquin Sapien,
The Breakthrough: A Reporter Finds a Man Proven Innocent, But Still Guilty in Eyes of the Law
ProPublica’s Megan Rose tells the story of a Las Vegas circus performer, a drifter and an ambitious prosecutor tangled in a case of wrongful conviction.
by Joaquin Sapien,
The Breakthrough: Hopelessness and Exploitation Inside Homes for Mentally Ill
A reporter finds that homes meant to replace New York’s troubled psychiatric hospitals might be just as bad.
by Joaquin Sapien,
‘The 100th Nail in the Coffin’ for Integration in Westchester County
The Trump administration ended a yearslong battle over fair housing, but the promise to end segregation was broken long before that.
by Joaquin Sapien,
The Breakthrough: Reporting on Life and Death in the Delivery Room
ProPublica reporter Nina Martin and her team used social media and old-fashioned shoe leather to show how the U.S. has the worst maternal death rate in the developed world.
by Joaquin Sapien,