By the time Josie Duffy Rice graduated from Harvard Law School, she knew she didn't want to be a lawyer. Instead, she became a journalist sitting at the intersection of politics and the criminal legal system. Her latest story—Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children—is a podcast delving into Mt. Meigs, a state-run institution where black children suffered "physical and sexual violence, unlivable facilities, and grueling labor in the fields surrounding the school." That history had largely gone unreported. Centered around a moment in the 1960s when five girls escaped and tried to blow the whistle, the podcast is filled with uncomfortable truths that too many people would prefer to ignore. In February, Reason's Billy Binion interviewed Duffy Rice by phone.
Q: Why do you think these stories went untold for so long, despite being pretty shocking?
