That’s not the way things are supposed to work
Ishmail Thompson was just 29 years old and in the middle of a mental health crisis when corrections officers at the Dauphin County Prison beat, pepper-sprayed, and hooded him as he begged for water and help. Ishmail died six days later.
No one would have known about how Ishmail died — and what it says about conditions at the Harrisburg prison — if it weren’t for prizewinning investigative journalist Joshua Vaughn’s persistent and determined reporting.
His work has earned him a prestigious award from the Pennsylvania Prison Society — Human Rights Champion of the Year.
“Josh Vaughn has dedicated a large part of his career to reporting on the often-overlooked world behind prison walls,” Pennsylvania Prison Society's executive director Claire Shubik-Richards said.
At a time when the number of deaths in prisons around Pennsylvania is rising — a shocking 13 preventable deaths in the first three months of 2025 — Josh’s reporting on conditions at the Dauphin County Prison in Harrisburg sheds light on how deaths happen and their aftermath.
“His steadfast dedication and integrity have brought attention to systemic issues — especially around deaths in custody and how they are reported. His work brings much-needed transparency, which lies at the heart of our mission,” Claire said.
The admiration goes both ways. Josh commends the Prison Society’s advocacy for people in prison and their families.
“I get to stand on the outside and lob bombs and be a thorn in the side and a pain in the butt,” Josh said. Society volunteers and staffers “are trying to fix the immediate problems that a person might have. They are the ones doing the hard work.”
“Journalism is one way we keep pressure and accountability on people in power,” he said. “You need the people doing advocacy and you need the journalism on the ground.”
People in prison “literally have been shut away from society,” Josh said. But “I have a platform. It gives them an opportunity to get their voice out there.”
Of course, it’s impossible to draw a conclusive line between the changes at Dauphin County Prison and Josh’s journalism on the ground for PennLive, the news website affiliated with Harrisburg’s daily newspaper, The Patriot-News.
But since November 2021, when Josh first began noting the mysterious and disquieting circumstances surrounding deaths at the jail, systems, contracts, and people long in place have begun to be questioned.
These days, their status is far from the rubber-stamped continuum they’ve experienced for years.
For the first time in decades, for example, Dauphin County’s longtime coroner faces a serious challenge at the polls. Josh’s reporting focused on what he described as the coroner’s inconclusive and misleading reports about prison deaths.
For years, the prison’s outside medical services contractor had a lock on the business, but that’s under review, after Josh’s reporting demonstrated apparent negligence and malfeasance.
Last year, Josh said, was the first time in 20 years that people in prison were permitted outdoor recreation.
“They are locked in their cells 22 hours a day,” Josh said.
Officials assert they don’t put people in solitary confinement, but they may as well, Josh said, since most of the people in Dauphin County Prison spend most of their time in their cells.
“It’s the living conditions — cockroaches, mice, mold, and bad air quality that they experience, expecting them to somehow be better at the end, even while sending the message the entire time that they are less than human,” he said.
“That’s not the way things are supposed to work.”
They certainly didn’t work for Ishmail Thompson, who died on July 29, 2021. The coroner said the cause of death was inconclusive.
And not for Jamal K. Crummel either, who died six months later on Jan. 31, 2022.
Guards wore winter coats when making their rounds in Jamal’s cell block. But Jamal only had a short-sleeved prison uniform. Hypothermia was listed as a significant factor contributing to his death, Josh found.
Josh first encountered prison reporting in college. A professor, Shaheen Pasha, introduced him to the Prison Journalism Project, which teaches journalism skills to people in prison. (Both she and Josh now teach at Penn State University.)
When Josh got to PennLive in 2021, he had already heard about the Dauphin County Prison deaths. He began investigating more than 18 deaths at the prison between 2019 and the end of 2023. Amplifying his reporting for PennLive, Josh also developed a dramatic multipart podcast, "Death County PA," about the deaths in Dauphin County Prison. Within days of release, it shot to the top of Apple’s podcast rankings.
Prisons present many troubling issues, but in terms of investigative journalism, Josh said, “We have more information around deaths because there is more paperwork. There are documents and a body.”
Uncounted people are also suffering extreme trauma in prison, Josh said, “But if they don’t die, and they don’t have means to file a lawsuit, there are stories you never hear and may never come out.”
Despite considerable money spent on corrections, prisons don’t meet goals of public safety and rehabilitation, Josh said. “You’re afflicting more harm and traumatizing people, then putting them back in the community and expecting a better outcome.
“That’s not how it works.”
Over the years, Josh has had to learn how to compartmentalize his work. He feels guilty for not doing more. He lives with the realization that whatever trauma he’s experiencing, it pales next to the suffering experienced by the people he covers. Too many stories, too many tragedies, and never enough time.
“Every day I do my work, I’m faced with death and harm,” he said. “It takes its toll. If you allow yourself to get burned out, you’ve effectuated nothing. The systems are very good at outlasting us. They’re going to chew you up and spit you out.”
But Josh persists — marathon style.
“For me, it’s something that has been instilled in me by my parents,” Josh said. The people in prison “are human beings. You need to be treating them like human beings.”
“They can be in jail for a reason,” he said. “They may have caused harm and need to be held accountable, but that accountability shouldn’t inflict additional harm on these people, because incarcerated people are just that — people.”