Introducing Supervision: A Privilege, Not A Right

When Emily Corwin was a reporter at NHPR covering jails and prisons, she wanted to tell a story about what happens next - a story about parole. Four and half million Americans are on parole right now - about twice the number of people in prisons and jails.

Emily met a guy named Josh Lavenets just as he was entering parole - and she tagged along with her microphone as Josh tried to get back on his feet.

Many months later, Emily published a story about Josh. It didn’t have a happy ending. But as it turns out, it also wasn’t complete.

After we first released Supervision in 2019, Emily got a tip from someone who listened to the podcast. It was from someone who knew Josh, personally.

What Emily learned from this person made her reevaluate - not just Josh, not just her reporting, but all the things we can miss when we try to report complicated, messy, human stories.

Document: Supervision is what happens when you pull a story back open and fill in the cracks with further reporting and fuller context.

If you want to hear the rest of Supervision, you can subscribe to Document or visit nhpr.org/document.