Jill Castellano

Investigation: Thousands of new mothers referred to law enforcement after faulty drug tests Rather than illicit drugs, many of these parents had eaten or used poppy seeds, heartburn medications, CBD gummies and prescribed medications during their pregnancy, leading to encounters with police ...

I went on Minnesota Public Radio to talk about how the state refers thousands of mothers to law enforcement over alleged drug use during pregnancy, often based on flawed drug tests at childbirth. In fact, these referrals take place for every 1 in 42 births. @themarshallproject.org

In Your State, Are Cops Being Called on New Mothers? The Marshall Project found more than 70,000 cases referred to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy. Explore the data for your state.

Our investigation found state agencies shared allegations of pregnancy substance use with law enforcement 70,000+ times over six years. Allegations are often based on unreliable drug testing, which can return false positives.

Use our interactive tool to explore the data and policies in your state:

Catch me at the #NICAR26 data journalism conference next week!

Having a Baby? 5 Tips to Avoid Problems From Flawed Drug Testing at the Hospital Hospitals routinely use unreliable drug tests at childbirth, and many parents are reported to child welfare agencies and the police. Here’s what you can do.

For the expecting parents out there -- here's what you need to know about (unreliable) drug testing at childbirth and what you can do about it @themarshallproject.org @sho-walter.bsky.social www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/13/t...

Proud of this amazing work I got to do with @sho-walter.bsky.social

ICE Raids Kept On During the Shutdown, But the Detention Data Stayed Hidden More than seven weeks have passed since the last comprehensive release of detention and deportation numbers.

@jillcastellano.bsky.social and I wrote about how this data also went missing during the shutdown: www.themarshallproject.org/2025/11/15/d...

Why Most Dangerous/Safest Cities Rankings Are Bunk A new whine for a new list.

Jeff Asher is out here doing the lord's work @jeffasher.bsky.social jasher.substack.com/p/why-most-d...

Great story showing how you can use Deportation Data Project info to show the long reaching geographic impacts of these ICE raids

ICE Data Reveals What Happened to 1,600 People Arrested During Chicago’s Blitz Most of those arrested were swiftly shuttled to a sprawling array of detention centers in 13 states, many with reports of troubling conditions.

We tracked around 1,600 people detained in "Operation Midway Blitz" - the Chicago-area ICE raids that took place this fall. Here's where they ended up. @themarshallproject.org @geoffhing.bsky.social @shannonheffernan.bsky.social

What Could Have Kept Me Out of Prison We asked people behind bars what services and programs could have changed the course of their lives. Therapy, affordable housing and a living wage topped the list.

Ahead of the 2020 election, we asked people in prison what might have helped keep them from committing the crime that led to their incarceration.

Among their responses were:
• affordable housing
• a stable, well-paying job
• mental health support

Are you curating your news diet more intentionally these days? If topics like policing, prisons, or criminal justice reform matter to you, subscribing to one of our newsletters is the perfect way to get the most important coverage delivered straight to your inbox:

Want to Know if Someone Is Worried About Crime? First Ask How They Voted. The sitting president can be a better predictor of how safe someone feels than what the crime data shows.

What drives our beliefs around crime and personal safety? Increasingly, the answer is politics. My latest for @themarshallproject.org

Bringing Scientific Evidence into Any Beat: Crime and Public Safety - The Open Notebook Daniel von Appen/Unsplash Just as police reports and witness accounts provide crucial information and context in stories about crime and public safety, scientific evidence similarly strengthens report...

Nice resource from The Open Notebook for anyone dipping their toes into crime and public safety journalism. @theopennotebook.bsky.social

ICE Raids Kept On During the Shutdown, But the Detention Data Stayed Hidden More than seven weeks have passed since the last comprehensive release of detention and deportation numbers.

ICE agents continued raiding, arresting and deporting during the 43-day shutdown, but officials stopped publishing data on their operations. This data gives us the best info we have on what ICE is up to, where, and who is being caught in the dragnet.

ICE Raids Kept On During the Shutdown, But the Detention Data Stayed Hidden More than seven weeks have passed since the last comprehensive release of detention and deportation numbers.

"...while the raids continued, the flow of information about them did not."

From @geoffhing.bsky.social and @jillcastellano.bsky.social

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/11/15/d...

I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.

certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.

Who Pays for Police Misconduct? These Cities Say Officers, Not Taxpayers Denver, Minneapolis and other cities want to avoid paying large sums owed to victims of some types of misconduct. But will the officers pay up?

Past Marshall Project reporting has found that, in the aggregate, the cost of police misconduct settlements can reach into the billions.

But recently, two cities have embraced a legal maneuver that, if widely adopted, could limit how much victims actually recover from these settlements.

Crawled out of my hole to join BlueSky. Learn more about my journalism here: www.themarshallproject.org/staff/jill-c...