Oklahoma’s criminal justice system and state-funded rehabilitation program offered Josh McWhorter a chance to avoid prison and beat addiction — then abandoned him when he got sick.

Author Archives: Ellie Lightfoot
Ellie Lightfoot is a child welfare reporter with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Grad School of Journalism. They are also a 2022 National Fellow with USC Annenberg's Center for Health Journalism, and an independent audio and documentary producer, with bylines in ProPublica, FRONTLINE, VICE, and NPR. Find more work at www.ellielightfoot.com.